


"Sanctuary" and "Altruistic Motives"

by fmlyhntr, jamelia116, Rocky_T, Voyager_Virtual Season_7-5_Staff_Writers (jamelia116)



Series: Voyager Virtual Season 7.5 [37]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Delta Quadrant, F/M, Ocampa, Vidiians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2020-12-28 02:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21129506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fmlyhntr/pseuds/fmlyhntr, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamelia116/pseuds/jamelia116, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocky_T/pseuds/Rocky_T, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamelia116/pseuds/Voyager_Virtual%20Season_7-5_Staff_Writers
Summary: "Sanctuary" by jamelia:Who communicated with Tuvok and T'Pel before Kathryn Janeway did during "Reconstruction Blues"? Does this have anything to do with the reason the captain was called to Headquarters to meet with Admiral Hayes on January 10, 2381?"Altruistic Motives" by Christina, jamelia, and Rocky:While searching for a new home for her people, a former crew member retraces the early part of the routeVoyagertook on its journey home. While many people she visits are unwilling to provide assistance, a few are eager to help--for reasons of their own.





	1. "Sanctuary" part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The Voyager Virtual Season 7.5 acknowledge that Paramount/Viacom/CBS own the rights to the Star Trek franchise. We make no claims of ownership of the characters, planets, and technology presented by their talented production crew (but we can't say we don't wish we did). Our "seasons" are an alternate take on how _Voyager_ might have returned home to the Alpha Quadrant, and what Might Have Come After.

**VOYAGER VIRTUAL SEASON 7.5--episode 37a**  


**Sanctuary**

**  
** **A Prelude to "Altruistic Motives" by jamelia**

****  
__  
Ocampa Caverns: Earthdate March 31, 2380/Stardate 56246.3  
  
Kes closed her eyes, took a breath and reached outward with her entire being.  
  
Swirls of color, like planets, suns, and exploding stars, coalesced into galaxies--and then into glittering crystals threaded along the faults cracked through rock formations dating back to ancient times. In that far distant past, Ocampa's surface sparkled with shallow azure seas and darker blue depths that were filled with abundant sea life. Continents and islands clothed in vibrant greenery sported an array of animal life that galloped and slithered and burrowed, while avian species flew through the air. Drifts of fluffy white clouds floated by, occasionally supplanted by towering thunderheads flashing bolts of lightning, pouring precious, life-giving rains on land and sea alike.  
  
Ocampa had been a fair world once, before the visitors came.  
  
The planet was still there, orbiting its sun as it had for millennia, but now, what little water remained had been locked away deep beneath the surface of a sandy, arid world. The plant species which survived were those that had been transplanted into the same underground caverns in which the pools of water now resided. And the animal life that had once cavorted on the land and in the air? Except for some bacterial, fungal, and insect life which had been scooped up along with the plants--they were nothing but a fading memory, and perhaps not even that; it had been so long since the Ocampa had seen any larger living creature. The Ocampa people themselves had lived underground for so many generations that life on the surface was the stuff of mythology. The sporocystian life forms who styled themselves "Caretakers" of the Ocampa had hidden them there, after they'd blundered and ruined the world they'd come to study. The Caretakers knew the Ocampa needed to be protected from the marauders from other planets who would love to destroy them--if they believed the old legends of the people living deep underground. Not many did.  
  
Did those sporocystian life forms realize _they_ had been the marauders? In a few short years, they may have caused more devastation than any Trabe or Kazon sect could have accomplished in centuries. Few of the of bad actors Kes had met during her travels on _Voyager_ could have managed to destroy her planet any more thoroughly than the Caretaker and his wayward mate--of this, Kes was certain. By stripping the planet's atmosphere of the particles which precipitation needed for the life-giving clouds to form, the Caretakers had turned the entire planet into a vast, empty desert. A Federation scientific team would be hard-pressed to classify it as anything other than H-Class now.  
  
However, the Caretakers had failed to strip the planet of one of its resources. The rocks were still here, much of them threaded with veins of precious minerals and elements, some more valuable than others. And Kes knew how to find them.  
  
Her perceptions were sharp. Today she could taste the tang of copper, catch a whiff of the precious, time-fracturing, quartz-like dilithium crystals sprinkled through a far-off vein of amethyst. Only when she was prepared to give up her search did she recognize what she had been seeking: the chiming-bell sound of paragithium, flowing like an underground river, deep within the bowels of Ocampa.  
  
Bright light reflected from bouncing molecules of air almost blinded her when she finally emerged from the rock wall and gradually took on a ghostly, misty form. The young man standing before the stony wall stepped back involuntarily as he saw the mist coalescing into the form of an elderly Ocampa female. As she emerged, Kes could feel the vibrations emanating from his shivering body. Slowly, Kes pieced myriad bits of subatomic particles back together until her transformation into a material being was complete.   
  
They stood across from each other for several seconds of silence. Then he raised his left hand into the air and waved it close to her shoulder. It was as if he wanted to pat her on her back to comfort her, but he wasn't quite sure she was solid enough yet for him to do so. Instead, he lowered his hand to his side, and asked solicitously, "Does it hurt?"  
  
"No, not really," Kes replied, her voice croaking with the effort of speech. "Some days it just takes a little longer to get myself together." A flicker of amusement crossed over her face as she recalled a certain tall human who once spoke about "getting himself together"--which he'd finally accomplished, but not until after she'd left _Voyager_ to explore the galaxy in her own unique way. In truth, on some mornings it took almost as much work to "get herself together," even though she'd remained perfectly solid all night long. _'You're not the dewy-eyed young thing you were when you first climbed to the surface of Ocampa to see the sun, Kes,'_ she thought to herself.  
  
Shaking her head as if to clear it of the vestiges of its other, less than subatomic state, she gave him the information she'd seeped through the rock to discover. "The vein of paragithium runs deep. It widens within the rock face at an eighty-five degree angle to the right, sloping down at a twenty-five degree angle first, then more steeply after fifty-seven meters to a forty-five degree angle."  
  
He pulled a small computerized recording device from out of his pocket and punched in the figures. "You're amazing. How do you know so precisely when you're just flowing through it like that?"  
  
She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know how I know, Josan. I just do."  
  
"Well, I know enough to believe you. Whenever we dig into a wall, you're always right! "  
  
Kes smiled wearily at the young metallurgist. "So far, anyway."  
  
"Are you ready to walk back now?" Josan asked.  
  
"I think I can manage, as long as you're willing to lend me a hand if I get a little shaky. I _am_ an old lady now, you know!"  
  
"You don't seem to be an old lady to me," Josan said graciously, bowing slightly before offering his arm to her with an exaggerated and fanciful gesture.  
  
Kes tucked her hand beneath his elbow and smiled up at him, but she didn't respond to his compliment. She knew very well what she looked like; at least once every day she looked into the mirror and could see for herself. Tired as she was at the moment, she must look positively ancient.  
  
The pair walked slowly down a dimly-lit corridor that had been cut into the rock during Kes's long absence from Ocampa. Originally, it had been excavated by the Ocampa seeking to expand their habitat. At first, the location had seemed promising. When the geologists had recommended that the configuration of anything built in that area needed to be quite narrow-- to insure the walls would be able to support the ceilings of the apartments -- the leaders lost their enthusiasm for the site. Kes accepted the reasons underlying the scientists’ reasoning, but she also understood the reluctance of her people to build homes here.  
  
Space, like everything else in the Ocampa caves, was growing scarce. Living underground wasn't that bad when the alternatives were considered. Still, continuing to burrow into solid rock and to fashion tiny, warren-like caves didn't seem to be a good option in the long run. To Kes, the proposed homes had seemed more like tombs that could collapse at any time. Of course, the presence of the corridor had made it easier to explore for the paragithium Josan was extolling as they walked back to the central cavern complex.  
  
"....since you've found so much, we'll be in really good shape for years. Filaments for light and the hard wiring for devices will be so much more efficient. In fact, I think the resonance of the mineral may increase our energy efficiency to 99.6%. That's just shy of perpetual motion."  
  
"Yes, but it's still _shy_ of perpetual motion," Kes agreed. "I wish we could achieve that level of efficiency somehow. We need all the power we can get. What will we do when our current supply runs out?"  
  
Josan ignored Kes's last question and replied, "At least the mining operation here may provide more apartments."  
  
Kes smiled at the young man's echo of her own musings. "That's what they were supposed to be, remember? But no one wanted to live there."  
  
"Well, no, but if we strengthen the walls with the rock we have to move while we're mining the paragithium, we may be able to create sufficient supports so that the apartments would be a good size. Maybe they'd be more attractive."  
  
"Perhaps," sighed Kes. "At the rate the population is exploding, our people may not be able to be so picky about how big their apartments are in the future. It's not as if they're so big now anyway." Her brow furrowed as a thought came to mind, one she'd previously considered but had rejected. Now the idea didn't seem so absurd, even if it was risky; but it still seemed too iffy for her to want to pursue it.  
  
As they walked, Josan commented casually, "You know, when you come out of the rock like that, you look the way I imagine you're one of those jennies you told us about."  
  
"Jennies?" Kes said in a puzzled tone as she turned her attention back to their conversation. A vision of the Delaney twins came to mind, but Josan knew nothing of them.  
  
"Yes, you know. The jennies in the bottle. From the Earth stories you shared with us when you first came back."  
  
"Oh! You mean _genies_ in a bottle, from the 'Arabian Nights.' I'd forgotten all about that." She smiled slightly, reminiscing about her welcome home a year earlier, when she was pumped for every memory she had of her life traveling through space on _Voyager,_ and all the people and cultures she'd met "on the outside."  
  
Just before they exited the corridor, Josan stopped short. The murmur of many voices working in the hydroponics gardens in the cavern beyond was the sign that their ability to speak privately would soon be at an end. Facing her, Josan asked solemnly, "Kes, how are you, really? Our crew has been working you very hard lately. You look so tired and..." He paused, apparently reluctant to complete his thought.  
  
Kes completed it for him. "Old. I do look old, don't I? Like I'm twenty years old, instead of only ten?"  
  
Her companion shuddered. "I can't imagine anyone that old."  
  
"You will soon," Kes said, smiling enigmatically at the impossibly young man before her. He could easily be her grandson. Had she ever really been so young and green? Yes, she had been--far younger, when she'd first met Neelix and the crew of _Voyager_ so many years ago on the surface of Ocampa. Giving his arm a squeeze she reassured him, "The time will come when we'll reach the natural life span ordained for us by our genetics, not the brief one the Caretaker imposed upon us by providing his 'sustenance,' laced with the compounds to suppress our fertility and life span."  
  
"Those theories haven't been accepted by the Council yet," he observed quietly.  
  
"They haven't met the Ocampa on the other Caretaker's space station. Their leader claimed they often reach the ages of fifteen or sixteen. A few were approaching twenty. Look at our own people. Quite a few have lived past twelve since the Caretaker died. And multiple births are the rule now, rather than the exception. I'm sure he had the best of intentions. Maybe he just tried to stabilize the population and overdid it, but..."  
  
Their conversation was interrupted by the shouts of a young woman bursting out of the hydroponics cavern and into the corridor.  
  
"Kes! Josan! I expected you back long ago!" Lyrial gasped as she reached them. "Your sister Tyeris just had her triplets. A little boy and identical twin girls. She wants their Uncle Josan to be one of the first to meet them."  
  
"That's wonderful! Is she all right? Are they all right?" he asked.  
  
"They're all just fine, Josan. And Kes, can you come see them, too? Tyeris wants to show them off to everyone, I think, but especially to you."  
  
"Tell her I'll come by later. Right now I need to rest. I'm too tired to 'oo' and 'ah' over them as much as they deserve."  
  
"Do you need help getting home? See, I knew turning into a jennie and sifting yourself through rocks would be too hard on you," Josan said, in some alarm.  
  
"I'm not so tired I can't get home under my own power. I just need a nap, that's all! Now go, 'Uncle Josan!' Shoo!"  
  
At Kes's urging, and only after she reassured the couple she would be able to return home just fine without them, Josan left with Lyrial to pay homage to the most perfect nephew and nieces ever born. Kes walked slowly back to her apartment, taking a short detour to pass through the potting shed where, as a child, she had spent many happy hours helping her mother and father growing plants to supplement the food the Caretaker dispensed.  
  
Life had been so different then. Predictable. Confining. As much as she had chafed at those restrictions, Kes was sure that had her parents lived longer, she never would have become so dissatisfied by life here to risk everything by climbing to the surface to see for herself if the stories about its lifelessness were really true. And if she hadn't done that, where would she be right now? Dead, possibly. Probably! Without the intervention of Species 8472, or Tuvok's help, Kes would never have developed the ability to control her mind and physical being to the extent she now could. And without that ability, how could she help her people find what was necessary to extend the power supplies bequeathed them by the Caretaker. Where would the Ocampa be? On the verge of extinction--or, more likely, they’d all be dead and gone already; without her aid, the energy supplies would have been exhausted by now, and food supplies as well.  
  
Knowing that wasn't enough to satisfy her, however. While she was pleased to be of service to her people, Kes knew there was more she could do. She even knew what that "more" was. She simply needed to gather her courage and do it.  
  
*  
  
What Kes laughingly called her "quarters" was actually a small alcove carved into one wall of the dwelling that she shared with Josan and Lyrial. Kes's share was barely big enough to contain a sleeping shelf suspended from the wall, a small desk, and a chair. A couple of small trunks tucked beneath the shelf stored her meager possessions, including the box of PADDs she'd retrieved from _Voyager _on her last visit, when Captain Janeway gave her the little shuttle which carried her back here. Small as her present home was, she was happy to have it. Many three-generation--and even some four-generation families--made do with little more. Since she'd never had a husband or children, Kes had no family members who could offer her a place to live, one of the bitter side-effects of the "one Elogium/one child per couple" days, when the only relatives one could expect to have were parents, direct descendants, or in-laws.  
  
Kes lay down on the bed without bothering to cover herself with a blanket or changing her clothes, even though she knew she probably should. During the last few seconds of her passage through the mineral deposits, when she began to reassemble into solid form, her garments caught particles of dust. Sometimes she wondered if some of them remained inside of her body after she was totally herself again. Was she heavier after she transformed back into Kes than she was before she began? In her lower moments, she felt as if the accumulation of minute foreign atoms made her feel her age more, but when her spirits rose, she doubted that made any difference. Besides, if she really wanted to, Kes could dematerialize and coalesce her body anew, reconstituting her clothing at the same time. She'd be would be fresh and clean inside or out then, but if she chose to do that, she'd have to do it later. She didn't have the energy to spare at the moment.  
  
If she really tried, Kes could even take away most (but not all) of the lines on her face, replace faded gray hair, and create a younger version of herself, although the young, dewy-eyed Kes who'd first encountered Neelix was gone forever. When she took that form again, she couldn't maintain it for long. Since Kes wasn't particularly vain about her looks, she had come to the conclusion that it was hardly worth the trouble.  
  
It was just as well. She no longer _was_ that Kes. She was another kind of Ocampa female, one who knew what the Morilogium felt like and had learned to control it. Moving from one state of matter to another took so much out of her, though, she only did it when it was absolutely necessary. Energy conservation, she thought ruefully, wasn't something only the Ocampa people had to practice--it was something she herself needed to keep in mind, lest one day she dissipate into the air, unable to reassemble her body because of sheer fatigue.  
  
As she rested, her thoughts turned to her daughter Linnis--or rather, to the daughter she would have had with Tom Paris if things had turned out differently. B'Elanna hadn't died when the Krenim attacked _Voyager_. In this time line, Kes wasn't sure they'd ever encountered that people, as they had in the one in which she'd lived her life backwards.  
  
The pang she usually felt whenever her lost future came to mind wasn't as unbearable as it used to be. Hailed as the marvel of her people, revered as the savior who was helping them stretch their energy resources, Kes had learned to deal with the pain of never having borne a child of her own. Kes's true Elogium had been spent so far from Ocampa, no compatible mate was nearby when her time finally came. Her memories of Linnis, and of Andrew Kim, who would have been Kes's grandson, would have to suffice.  
  
Since the death of the Caretaker, the Ocampa had been forced to provide their own food from natural plant sources they grew beneath artificial light. Kes was convinced the food dispensed by the Caretaker had contained all the nutrients a nice little Ocampa required to sustain life - along with a fertility suppressant and aging accelerator that would have ensured the Ocampa would have died out within the next few dozen generations, had the Caretaker survived as long as he'd thought he would. Since the change in their diet, Ocampa women were still limited to just one Elogium in their lifetime, but twins, triplets--even the occasional set of quadruplets--were being born to parents who were living longer and longer all the time. Although Kes hadn't yet taught anyone else how to manipulate the energy and matter of their own bodies to "come back" from the Morilogium the way she herself could, she was sure they would discover it for themselves eventually, as long as she lived long enough to guide them through it.  
  
Until then, Kes could tolerate being called "Auntie" by her people. Perhaps someday she might be considered an Ocampa version of Earth's Eve, once they accepted what she had learned about the true nature of her people's life spans. Or perhaps Eve wasn't the right reference. Maybe she was a Prometheus, bringing to the Ocampa the knowledge that the Morilogium brought not death, but transformation into a different form of life, a non-corporeal state, which could be reversed back to the corporeal when one was properly prepared to use the proper mental techniques to accomplish it.  
  
Yes, if she were to delve into her memories of Earth mythology, Prometheus was the better reference. After all, she'd never found an Adam on her journeys, or even experienced a bond like the one Tuvok had with his T'Pel. Kes supposed it really had been too much for her to expect to find a love like that. She had been so passionate about traveling, her probability of meeting a person who could have been the great love of her life had been greatly reduced. Although she cherished her memories of her time with Neelix, he had loved her jealously--almost too well. Despite this, her relationship with him was the only time in her life she had been truly intimate with another person. Although her recollections of building a family with Tom Paris were of a time line which had never really happened, she treasured them, too.  
  
Kes shook herself, resolving to quit moping over past romantic liaisons. That phase of her life was over. She had a new role, a new vocation, which she took very seriously. Since she still felt shame over the way she'd once lost her way, this was something she had to do. There was no time for bitterness over lost histories.  
  
After tossing and turning a few more times, she rose from her bed and retrieved her meditation lamp from the shelf above her desk. She sat on her chair and placed the lamp centered upon the desktop. Kes concentrated upon the wick for a moment, and it burst into flame. She smiled a little and adjusted the degree of brightness downward to the right level to serve as an aid to meditation. Staring into the dancing bit of fire, Kes sent her spirit outwards, expanding her mind until she felt its velocity stretch towards what she always thought of as a psychic warp 10. Unlike the time Tom Paris had experienced that phenomenon traveling in one of _Voyager's _shuttles, Kes had no fear of evolving into a lizard (unless she chose, for some inexplicable reason, to assume that sort of body instead of her usual humanoid form).  
  
Her mind sped along, accelerating until, Q-like, she felt as one with the entire galaxy. Kes wasn't concerned with most of the Milky Way, of course, nor did she ever attempt to sense what was going on in the rest of the universe. All she cared about was the corner of the Milky Way Galaxy located approximately 70,000 light years from Ocampa, very near the Sol System, where a warm, dry planet circled around the star 40 Eridani A, the planet upon which a close friend now dwelt. She touched his mind lightly, gaining strength from the knowledge that he was finally home, back within the circle of his spouse and family, and content with his life.  
  
Kes realized that her journeying days were not truly over. That was her belief after she'd traveled the rest of her way back to her own home planet. The task facing her now required that she leave it once again. Her life, and that of everyone living beneath the barren crust, the dry shell that was Ocampa, would change radically if she acted as she should in this matter; but it was, quite literally, a matter of life or death for her people. No matter how efficiently the existing power supplies were used in this underground sanctuary, eventually they would run out. Without power, the lights would go out. The food plants could not grow. The air filtration and water purification systems would fail. Her people would die. For the Ocampa to have a future, the responsibility for locating an alternative place to live would rest firmly on Kes's small shoulders. Kes thought about it and decided the appropriate literary reference to describe her might not be Eve or Prometheus. Instead, Kes might actually be the Atlas of her people.


	2. "Sanctuary"--part 2

  
  
**ShahKar, Vulcan: Earthdate March 31, 2380/Stardate 56247.2**  
  
"I sense another, Tuvok," T'Pel said. From the tight way she voiced her observation, Tuvok would have discerned her disquiet, even if their fingers were not interlaced with one another's, linking them in that intimacy of the mind which was so vital to Vulcan couples, but which outsiders could never truly comprehend.  
  
Silently, he reassured her. _[[It is Kes]]_  
  
_[[Her spirit?]]_ T'Pel thought back to him.  
  
_[[Without more precise data, I could not presume to categorize Kes's current state of being, except to state that her sense of self is intact.]]  
_  
A ripple of amusement entered into his consciousness. It was so completely unlike the Vulcan appreciation of irony, which was the way his wife expressed her recognition of humor in his life, he knew it could only have come from Kes. At the same time--he could only explain it in this way should he be asked, for no actual images or words had entered his consciousness--he knew that Kes continued to maintain a corporeal form for a substantial portion of the time.  
  
"Fascinating," T'Pel breathed, confirming that she, too, was privy to this perception through her continuing telepathic communication with Tuvok.  
  
Carefully, he projected an image of the safe return of _Voyager_ to Earth and of the well-being of those to whom Kes had been close. Again, without any awareness of how it was done, he perceived she was already cognizant of this and was pleased for the entire crew. He also knew, without question, that Kes herself was home as well. He was able to "read" her as easily as he once had in his quarters on _Voyager_, when they would sit across from each other at his table while, he taught her the disciplines of the mind she needed to know to control her latent gifts. Tuvok could not contain his surprise. He was receiving messages from Kes--and sending to her in return--even though she was physically dwelling inside a planet 70,000 light years from Vulcan.  
  
Swiftly, he suppressed his emotions to prevent surprise from turning into shock, especially since he was still telepathically linked with his wife. Another ripple of amusement was transmitted, followed quickly by an element he could only classify as a contrite request for forgiveness, as Kes realized the private nature of the meditation she had interrupted.  
  
Now Tuvok was in something of a quandary. Private meditation or no, the miraculous nature of a telepathic communication from one side of the galaxy to another almost demanded continuation, if only to ascertain the means by which they could do this again in the future. She must have perceived this thought, for Tuvok could detect the clear presence of a question in Kes's mind, a question which was so compelling, she had decided to sweep away the distances separating them physically in order to initiate this mental communication with him. And she had succeeded.  
  
The images that appeared in Tuvok's mind, and therefore in T'Pel's, were astonishing. A Starfleet vessel was parked on the parched, bleak surface of a planet which Tuvok immediately recognized. In the distance, a multitude approached the ship, which looked very much like _Voyager_. Every one of them carried baggage. Many were accompanied by children. All were led towards the spacecraft by a short, elderly Ocampa woman. Before the full nature of her question came into his mind, however, the image began to dissolve, and he sensed--what? An intruder, perhaps? It was almost as if he perceived another mind, totally foreign to Kes and Tuvok, attempting to wedge itself into the conversation.  
  
The fragile telepathic connection between Ocampa and Vulcan was shattered. Tuvok was again completely aware of the touch of his wife's fingers between his own and surrendered to the comfort and support of her mind linked with his provided. Shakily, he drew a breath, unaware of how long he might have been holding it. Opening his eyes, he looked into the warmth of his wife's gaze.  
  
"Should I be concerned about the status of our union, since you seem to be sharing thoughts with another?" T'Pel said quietly, but with a quizzically arched eyebrow raised high, erasing any hint that she was truly accusing him of an infidelity.  
  
"You need not be," he assured her, his own eyebrow raised in answer, but he found he was unwilling to release her hand from his.  
  
T'Pel's free hand caressed their joined ones lightly in a greatly reassuring gesture, as she replied, "I am pleased to hear it. I find, however, that my mouth is as dry and parched as if I had traveled a very long way--perhaps even as far as that arid world you've told me about at the other end of the galaxy. I would find some Tarkalean tea refreshing upon this occasion. Wouldst thou care for a cup of thine own, my husband?"  
  
His gaze softened at her choice of phrasing. "Indeed, thy offer would be accepted with gratitude, my wife."  
  
After T'Pel had arisen and departed to the food preparation room to brew the tea, Tuvok sat in the darkened meditation chamber alone. Neither of them had bothered to extinguish the lamp, the same one that had traveled back from the Delta Quadrant with Tuvok, and which had been used on so many nights by Kes, as well as Tuvok himself; he would be hard-pressed to count them accurately at this late date. The flame of the lamp flickered in the chill air of the chamber. At night in the desert, in the winter of the year, the air would feel cool even to those who were not of the Vulcan race. To Tuvok, the air was frigid, not that he would be willing to complain about that fact to anyone. The beads of sweat spreading across his face could be cited as the cause of his discomfort.  
  
Truthfully, the quivering sensation traveling up and down his spine at that moment had less to do with air temperature than it did the circumstances of what had just occurred. At Tuvok's request, T'Pel had joined him during his hours of meditation in recent days. He valued her opinions, of course, but even more, the matter under consideration would have a profound effect on her life, as well as his. He could not justify taking so drastic a step without her full participation. That such an event would occur to interrupt with their evaluation of the pros and cons of their choice was unimaginable. How _could_ he have anticipated such a thing? Yet it was, perhaps, fortunate that it had happened now. It presented another variable that could affect the outcome of their deliberations.  
  
When T'Pel returned, the tray she carried was graced with another lamp, one which shed a much brighter light than Tuvok's. Alongside it, an elegant onyx teapot and a pair of matching cups rested on the tray. Other than its gracefully-shaped handle and lid, the teapot was unadorned. The cups were engraved with a series of lines which completely encircled each vessel, creating an optical illusion from the impossibility of the geometry. Tuvok was silent as he contemplated the tea service and his wife (although not necessarily in that order). T'Pel poured the tea, which steamed profusely in the cool air of the room. The couple sipped several times before Tuvok advised her, without further prompting, "Not only has that never occurred before; I would not have thought it possible, had I not experienced it myself."  
  
"I confess, Tuvok, had you _told_ me this communication had taken place, I would have found it difficult to believe, even from you. Because we experienced it together, I have no choice but to believe it--unless we have shared a sophisticated hallucination."  
  
The eyes of the couple met. They needed no telepathic touch of the hand or words to convey the truth to each other. This had been no hallucination; it had been nothing less than a telepathic communication sent across the galaxy from one friend to another.  
  
As one, Tuvok and T'Pel breathed, "Remarkable."  
  
The utterance had nothing to do with the tea.  
  


* * *

  
  
**Ocampa Caverns: Earthdate March 20, 2380/Stardate 56247.7**  
  
As her eyes came back into focus, Kes noticed that the flame of the lamp flickered more weakly than before, suggesting that her sending had ended some time ago. Her body was rigid with tension. This had seldom happened when Tuvok instructed her in meditation techniques during her days on _Voyager_. Even when she'd made her first frustrating, tentative attempts to expand her consciousness sufficiently to make contact with Tuvok, she had not felt this way. There was something ominously familiar in the nature of that sudden sensation of being "watched."  
  
The intrusion by the unknown other into her telepathic communication with Tuvok had upset her to her core, forcing her to break off the link. No, "upset" was a woefully inadequate descriptor. What Kes had felt was fury, sparked by paralyzing terror. Each emotion had lasted only for a moment, but she recognized they were the same ones that had driven her to _Voyager,_ vowing vengeance on all who had "stolen" her from her home planet. Ridiculous, of course. Kes had been the one who had so longed to travel among the stars, she'd managed to drag a very ambivalent Neelix along with her to request a place on the ship, too. The crew of _Voyager_ had never expressed anything other than love and friendship to Kes, even when she was possessed by the warlord Tieran, or when Tanis, the Ocampa leader of Suspiria's space station, had prompted her to attack Tuvok and destroy her beloved airponic garden.  
  
Kes now thought her behavior during her return to _Voyager_ must have been a temporary madness, brought on by profound loneliness during her trek through time and space. Fortunately, Captain Janeway had countered Kes's evil intentions with forgiveness and understanding. Instead of punishing Kes, the captain had presented her with a precious gift: the shuttle that gave her the means to flee back home to Ocampa.  
  
Unable to remain still any longer, Kes extinguished the flame and began to pace the tiny space in front of her bed, crossing her arms and rubbing her hands roughly over her forearms to quell her discomfort. The intrusion reminded her of the time she had been assailed by visions from Species 8472, who were filled with sheer malice to every being in the galaxy. It was difficult for her to feel pity for the Borg, but Kes had felt it then in the face of the vicious onslaught from Species 8472. Even worse, poor Harry Kim had almost been devoured by the infection they'd given him. The Doctor, with the assistance of Kes, had pulled Harry through that crisis, but her days on _Voyager_ had been few after that. She had chosen to leave _Voyager_, thinking to save her friends from the damage she was causing through her explorations of the subatomic world of particles and energy, whenever she practiced shifting between one state and the other.  
  
In retrospect, she thought that choice may have been a mistake. Once she'd learned control, she might have helped them travel home to the Alpha Quadrant more quickly. Then again, her presence might have been detrimental, even fatal, to the completion of their journey. They'd found their way home at unimaginable speeds (for a starship, at least). Had she been on the ship, they might not have discovered the mechanism that permitted them to get home themselves. Her attempts to harness her powers may have ended in _Voyager's_ destruction, just as she'd feared when she'd chosen to leave.  
  
Maybe it hadn't been a mistake to leave _Voyager_ when she did, no matter how badly things had turned out for Kes herself. A very small being, alone and lost for a very long time despite her newfound powers. Many times on her travels, she had veered close to oblivion. Sometimes she could barely believe she _had_ found her way home, dodging the Vidiians and the Kazon, avoiding the Haakonians and Trabe, slipping through defensive lines of Krowtonan Guard ships, even though she possessed the ability to transform herself and her little shuttle, if need be, into an undetectable wraith slipping invisibly through the ether at faster-than-warp speeds. She reassumed solid form only when she felt safe enough to travel through normal space.   
  
"Ouch!" Kes cried as she bumped her shin against the desk for the fourth time. She could barely take five steps in any direction before having to reverse direction. In her agitated state, she kept trying to take that sixth step. She laughed ruefully and said aloud to the empty apartment, "Able to leap light years at a single thought but unable to remember not to bump into your own furniture! What a wonder you are, Kes! I wonder what the Doctor would say to that? Oh, dear, I wonder if the Doctor ever picked out a name for himself! I miss him so. I miss them all!"  
  
Needing to escape a sudden wave of homesickness for those she had once abandoned, Kes pushed the curtain aside, stepped away from her bed, and quickly crossed the small apartment's main room. As she fled through the doorway, Kes made a conscious effort to steady her heartbeat.  
  
Coming into the hydroponic garden cavern did help--a little. It was strange. She always felt closest to her parents here, near the growing plants. It was as if their spirits lingered in the familiar haunts where her family had spent so many happy hours together, caring for the plants that supplied food for their people. Perhaps their spirits were still here, changed by the Morilogium into non-corporeal beings who had never learned to how to travel back and forth between states. She felt like a little girl again and longed to run into her parents' arms for a close hug, to find sanctuary in the warmth of their love.  
  
Kes sighed. Sanctuary. That's what she'd thought she'd find when she returned home, to live out her days, however long they might be, among her own people. In some ways she'd found what she'd been looking for, but thanks to the problems she'd discovered upon her return, the restful retirement she'd anticipated was not to be.  
  
_Wasn't there a Terran author who once said you could never go home again? That person was very wise, _Kes thought. Home had turned out to be as foreign to her, after an absence of almost eight years, as any port of call Kes had made during her time on _Voyager,_ or after, during her solitary explorations of space and time. Life beneath the surface of her home planet was very different from the way it had been when she'd left. Better in some ways. Worse in others. That was always the way of it, she supposed. The one thing she'd never been able to get used to was the absence of the thing she'd once climbed to the surface to find.  
  
She longed to feel the Ocampa sun's warmth upon her face again, perhaps with a light breeze tickling her cheek, teasing strands of her hair into graceful filaments that danced across her forehead. She wished for bad weather, like she'd experienced many times on her journeys. First, the smell of ozone on a freshening wind, then sluicing rain or delicate snowflakes, sifting down from leaden gray clouds. Driving particles of icy sleet, stone-hard pellets of hail. Streaks of lightning, followed by crashing thunderbolts.  
  
These were her people's birthright, stolen from them by an alien being whose genuine remorse at the damage caused by his mistake could never truly compensate the Ocampa for all they had lost. Kes knew what weather felt like, but none of the rest of her people did. The Caretaker had offered them sanctuary and survival, caring for them as best he could; but there was nothing more he could do to help them. He was dead, but the Ocampa were the ones buried beneath the ground.  
  
If the Ocampa were to live and thrive as a people, they would need to take their own future in hand and shape it themselves. There was no longer a benevolent, if misguided being to care for them like they were his children. It was time for the Ocampa to grow up if they were to survive as individuals and as a people.  
  
As Kes very well knew, it was a cold, cruel universe out there; but those who were willing to stand up for themselves could find friends as well as enemies. The one-time strangers who had rescued and sheltered her on _Voyager_ had taught her this lesson. The Ocampa simply had to find the courage to learn it, too. They lacked only a guide--and they would not lack that either, if one who was up for the job was willing to accept it.  
  
_Face facts, Kes. You're the only one who can do this. You abandoned your people once, choosing to leave this planet and join Voyager's crew; but when you returned, they welcomed you home. It's payback time. You need to help them find a way out of this mess--to find a new place to live or die trying._  
  
At once, Kes knew she had made the right decision. For the first time in many, many days, she felt truly at peace. The journeys of Kes would continue. She had not seen the last of stars and suns.  
  
With a firm, bouncing tread her friends on _Voyager_ would have recognized, Kes strode through the cavern towards the home of Tyeris and Benan. Her path was clear. She would take on that task and complete it or die trying. There were undeniable risks involved, not just to her, personally, but also to the Ocampa, who must dare to live beneath a different sun, instead of hiding away from the one currently shining over the barren landscape of their homeworld.  
  
But first, she had a promise to keep: to visit a set of newborn triplets, to cuddle them and "oo" and "ah" over them, and to let them know that someday, they, too, would see the sun.

  
  
**_On to "Altruistic Motives," by jamelia, Christina, and Rocky._**


	3. "Altruistic Motives"-Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Dedicated to all the space explorers, those who have returned home safely as well as those who sacrificed their lives helping mankind reach for the stars.
> 
> This story was planned in the summer of 2002 and had its genesis even further back, during season 6 of Voyager. When we first developed VVS7.5, we discussed whether or not "Fury" should be considered part of our canon. We finally decided our split would occur after "Shattered." "Fury" (regrettably) was part of our series history. That episode cried out for the VV7.5 "we feel the need for a fix" treatment, since all the events of "Fury" are assumed to have occurred. (jamelia)
> 
> While we know the Think Tank claimed they gave the Vidiians the means to cure the Phage, outside of a very select few, the Vidiians themselves do not know of their involvement. (Christina)

**VIRTUAL SEASON 7.5 - episode 37b****  
****  
****Altruistic Motives****  
******  
Story by Janet, Christina, Penny, and the Season 7.5 staff   
Written by Janet, Christina, and Rocky

_  
_**Prologue**  
  
****_Ocampa homeworld--April 8, 2380, Stardate 56268._5_  
_  
"Please, Kes. Let me come with you."  
  
Kes stopped midway to the next landing, taking advantage of this chance to take a breather from their laborious climb up the stairs to the surface. "I appreciate your offer, Josan, really, but I'll be fine."  
  
"It is a good idea to have someone to accompany you, Kes. If you become ill or..." Council member Vertris hesitated, clearly reluctant to give Kes the true reasons for her apprehension. Vertris didn't need to go on; Kes knew what she was trying very hard not to say.  
  
"You're afraid my Morilogium will occur on route?"  
  
"Well, that's always a possibility," Vertris replied.  
  
"You don't need to worry about that," Kes said, shrugging her shoulders carelessly. As the leader of the Ocampa Ruling Council, it was Vertris' job to raise concerns, even if the full council had previously aired them. Kes had answered their questions well enough to gain their reluctant consent to travel alone. Kes didn't see why she needed to go over it all again now.  
  
Since Vertris knew she would not change her mind, Kes suspected she was "covering her back," as Harry Kim sometimes said (Tom Paris had used a more colorful variant), preparing to respond to the council firestorm she would surely face should the mission go awry. ("I tried to stop her from going all alone. Kes wouldn't listen. Lyrial and Josan, you heard her...")  
  
A quick glance in her friends' direction changed Kes' mind about addressing the issue again. Lyrial and Josan had also been vocal about the dangers of traveling by herself. Kes' explanation that she had journeyed alone in a shuttle all the way back to Ocampa had not assuaged their fears for the safety of the woman they called "Auntie." Kes had never anticipated meeting strangers who would become family to her, but she should not have been surprised. It was, after all, what happened when people married and gained new "in-law" family members. And it wasn't the first time Kes had seen it happen. On _Voyager,_ it had happened on a much larger scale.  
  
Lyrial and Josan's generosity of spirit reminded Kes of how the Captain Janeway and her crew had incorporated Kes and Neelix into their ship's "family." The Caretaker had pulled them immeasurably far from their own families when he sensed he was dying. He'd hoped to find a being in this galaxy who could take his place. He failed to find a replacement; and even worse, he also failed to return those he'd abducted back to where they'd come from. No one knew how many innocent travelers had been stranded by his callous disregard for their feelings and desires. All he wanted was to assuage his own guilt for what he'd done to the planet of Ocampa and its people.   
  
During their journey back to their homes in the Alpha Quadrant--along with a few from the Beta Quadrant--the crew of _Voyager_ had comforted and supported each other as they adjusted to their unanticipated side trip to the other side of the galaxy. They taught Kes that blood ties need not exist for people to become a vital part of another person's existence.  
  
In the same way, Lyrial and Josan had become much more than friends to Kes in the months since she returned to Ocampa. The young couple shared their small cubbyhole of an apartment with her, providing Kes with a family circle, something which Kes had already lost by the time she chose all those years ago to climb to the surface of Ocampa to "see the sun" for herself. By letting Lyrial and Josan "adopt" her, Kes had turned them into her relatives. As such, they deserved far more than a cursory, "Don't worry about me," before she left, possibly for the last time. She was confident she would be successful, but who knew what might happen to prevent her from meeting Lyrial and Josan again? Bitter experience had taught Kes just how uncertain life could be.  
  
Turning to the couple, Kes caught a hand from each of them and gave them a gentle but emphatic squeeze. "Please, trust in your 'Auntie Kes.' Everything will turn out all right. I know you want to protect me, but you don't need to worry. I've taken on this task of my own free will, and it _will_ be completed successfully. The Morilogium will not be a factor, I'm certain. I'm more concerned that Josan would miss your Elogium if he travels with me. It will be here very soon now!"  
  
"How can you be so sure, Kes?" Lyrial asked plaintively.  
  
"About my Morilogium, or your Elogium?" Kes responded with a wink. Since Lyrial did not respond to Kes' gentle teasing with the smile Kes had hoped to see, she continued in a more serious vein. "I don't want you to miss out on the chance to become a mother the way I did, Lyrial. I had no mate when my Elogium finally came."  
  
Lyrial's face flamed with embarrassment, but she whispered. "We both could come."  
  
Kes replied gently, "We've already discussed that. There isn't room in this little ship for three people to occupy it for the many months that may pass before I can reach my goal. This shuttle is even smaller than our apartment!"  
  
Lyrial did smile at that, but Vertris had grown impatient with this diversion from her own agenda. "The status of Lyrial and Josan's family life is not the issue here, Kes. We all know your Morilogium cannot be that far in the future. If you should die on the journey, all alone, the Council..."  
  
"The Council did not seem all that worried about losing me to the Morilogium when they tabled my proposal for over a week, Vertris," Kes stated severely, but she quickly regretted her rigid stance when Vertris flinched visibly.  
  
Even before Kes' return, Vertris had begged the council to hollow out more habitable areas beneath the surface of the planet. The others had been too short-sighted to listen to her. She was the one who presented Kes' plan to the council when Kes offered to search for a new planet for them to live, arguing that food would eventually run out, as comfortable dwellings had, if something was not done to increase, or at the very least, replenish, the dwindling supplies of energy they had in storage. Of all the council members, Vertris did not deserve Kes' scorn.  
  
Kes patted the representative on the forearm and continued, in a more placating manner, "I know that delay wasn't your fault, Vertris. You did your best to make them see the merits of my suggestion. But I'll be fine. I'm sure of it."  
  
Kes briefly considered whether she should confess why she was so sure the Morilogium would not be a factor. Kes had actually gone through it years ago, when she left _Voyager_ for the first time. It was then the great secret had been revealed to her. The Morilogium was not really a death. A way back existed for one who knew the techniques for shifting in and out of a corporeal form of life, if the person had "unfinished business" on this plane of existence. Kes knew she did.  
  
Almost as soon as she thought of mentioning it, Kes dismissed the idea. Vertris and Lyrial were not yet ready for that knowledge. Josan was shocked when he observed Kes seeping through the rock walls searching for mineral deposits. Kes had tried to explain it to him, but he hadn't understood. The Ocampa were not yet ready to accept the truth.   
  
Turning away from her friends, Kes leaned against the handrail, surreptitiously probing the strength of the supports and wall fastenings of the stairway. This set of steps had been the least damaged ten years ago, when the Caretaker's final barrage sealed the entrances to the Ocampa's subterranean hideaway. It had been repaired and maintained by her people ever since as the only safe route to the surface, even though no one ever tried to get there, as far as anyone in the caverns knew. Kes wanted to make sure the way was still sound. It would be terrible if it failed when her friends were on their way back down to the caverns. They would surely perish from such a fall.  
  
Once she was reassured the stairway and railing were sound, Kes resumed her upward climb, only to be interrupted by Josan. "What if you become ill or incapacitated?".  
  
Kes glanced back over her shoulder at him but didn't stop climbing. "I thought we'd already settled this, Josan. If I were incapacitated, would you be able to pilot the shuttle back here? It took me three years to learn how to fly one properly, and I took lessons from one of the very best pilots in Starfleet. I'm afraid I couldn't do half as good a job teaching you as Tom did me, even if I had twice the time. And if I did pass away, stranding you somewhere out in space wouldn't help our people. I'm sure I'll be fine, but even if I'm not and I can't return, our people won't be any worse off than before I came home last year."  
  
"We would be far better off, thanks to the technologies you brought back with you. Finding out how to use paragithium to stretch our power resources has been a blessing," Vertris agreed. "Still, you can't blame us for feeling a bit nervous. We would be heart-broken to lose you again. And you've raised hopes that the Ocampa will see the sun and stars again!"  
  
"It will happen! I'm sure of it! I just have to do it my own way." Kes smiled, but the firm tone of her voice made her determination clear.  
  
Vertris nodded her head. "That was always your way, if the stories about 'Kes the Adventuress' are even half true."  
  
Kes' throaty laugh echoed in the stairwell. The tale of Kes' leaving Ocampa with her friends from the other side of the galaxy had evolved into legend in the years before her miraculous, unexpected return. She couldn't very well deny that!  
  
Reaching the next landing she waited for her current friends to gather around her. "I'm confident of success. I wish I could tell you why, but I am. Just have faith!"  
  
Vertris, Josan, and Lyrial could not totally erase the signs of worry from their faces, but they had no alternative. Each of them, in turn, gave Kes a hug to convey that they had accepted Kes' decision.  
  
The rest of the ascent passed quickly, ending where the shuttle from _Voyager_ was hidden, wedged within pores of the rock. Only because of Kes' ability to transform herself and the shuttle between corporeal and non-corporeal states could it be freed from its hiding place and fly again between the stars.  
  
After all their discussions during the climb up, their final farewells were brief. Kes preferred it that way. Quickly, before the good-byes could turn maudlin, Kes expanded herself into a fog that seeped between the molecules of the shuttle's rocky hanger. Slipping inside the shuttle, she prepared the small craft for take-off.  
  
At last the shuttle _Benaren_ lifted off, disguised as a dust devil to fool any scavengers who might mark its rise, and disappeared into the night sky. After achieving orbit above the world in which she had born, Kes caught a quick glimpse of Ocampa's sun. As she aimed her craft towards the outer reaches of the system, she whispered a fervent prayer to all her forebears to help her make her promise a reality. Kes would find another home for the Ocampa, one where they could live the lives they deserved, or die in the attempt. She could not bear the alternative: the Ocampa people, huddling inside overcrowded warrens-turned-mausoleums, slowly dying off as their resources were exhausted. Kes refused to accept that would be her people's fate.  
  
  



	4. Act 1

  
**Act One**  
  
**_Outside the Ocampa system--April 8, 2380, Stardate 56268.8_**_   
_  
Although Kes had successfully convinced Vertris, Josan, and Lyrial she'd be better off if she didn't have to worry about anyone else traveling in her shuttle with her, she didn't expect to be alone for long, either. Her assumption was quickly confirmed. Less than two hours after bidding the dusty brown world of her birth farewell and leaving orbit, her comm crackled with the command to _"Cease forward motion. Prepare to be boarded!"_  
  
The ship which suddenly appeared bristled with projections all over its hull, indicative of a formidable weapons array. The ugly ship was so large, Kes was confident that few pilots flying craft the size of hers would have the temerity to disobey.  
  
Of course, none of those vessels were piloted by Kes of the Ocampa. She'd learned a thing or two during her time with Captain Kathryn Janeway. One was "talk when you can to buy time." Another was, "Don't back down in front of bullies; they'll never leave you alone if you do."  
  
Kes opened the channel. "My name is Kes, a representative of the Ocampa people. I have no intention of doing anything to harm you or..."  
  
Kes knew they were going to attack several seconds before the blaze of weapons fire erupted from their ship. The light arrived; the blast of their weapons did not. Using all her considerable mental strength, Kes bent the energy from the blast in reverse, against the shields of the attacking ship, shoving it backwards, well away from the _Benaren_ and out of sight. Kes gathered herself together and mentally pushed her little shuttle not quite three light years in the direction she had sent her attacker.  
  
A few seconds later she saw the ship silhouetted against a brightly glowing yellow star, just hanging there, completely motionless. Several of the projections from the port side had been sheared away. She guessed the vessel must have experienced a too-close encounter with some sort of planetary body during its unexpected trip in reverse. It looked a good deal less threatening now.  
  
Kes opened a channel to the ship again, this time forcing the controls of the opposing ship to send back a visual of its bridge.  
  
She couldn't keep a vaguely predatory smile from her lips. As efficient as a ship's inertial dampers were in protecting its crew from being harmed whenever the unimaginable speeds it traveled increased or decreased abruptly, there was always that initial microsecond before they flared into action. Kes had learned on _Voyager_ that was just enough time for the residual inertia to bounce her away from her duty station, off her feet, or, if she was fortunate enough to be sitting at the time, to grab onto her seat and hang on for dear life.  
  
The dampers on this ship appeared to work in much the same way that _Voyager's_ did. Kes watched as several heads popped into view at irregular intervals, hands rubbing against them as though to check if those all-important humanoid appendages were still fastened firmly onto their necks.  
  
Kes engaged her comm once again. "Unidentified vessel, if your species is subject to danger from head injuries, if you feel at all dizzy or have lost consciousness, I suggest you seek medical attention immediately..."  
  
_"How dare you attack us!"_ called out a voice from the face which swam into the central viewing area of the screen.  
  
"Not an 'attack,' a defensive action," Kes corrected sternly. "I did nothing more than deflect the energy beam you directed at _my_ shuttle back at you. Why did you shoot at me? My little ship clearly is no threat to yours!"  
  
_"The damage to our ship says otherwise!"_ the alien growled.  
  
"You have only yourselves to blame if your own aggressive actions resulted in damage to your ship. Don't bother getting your weapons systems back on line immediately. I'd concentrate on fixing your protective shielding and propulsion if I were you. I have no plans to retaliate unless you fire on me again, and I wouldn't recommend it. If you attack me again, I'll gladly shove your ship back into that star's corona. I don't believe your weakened shields could prevent your hull from rapidly burning away."  
  
Orange eyes gleamed fiercely in the light green face staring back at her. He grunted as he glanced down at his instruments. She knew the tale they told. At the very least, this crew had several hours of repair work to complete before they could endanger her again. They'd be foolish to try after the demonstration she'd just given them.  
  
As he made no further effort to speak with her but also did not cut off communications, Kes made a few quick adjustments to her sensors and confirmed that the colors of his face were accurately represented. "You are of the race known as the Krowtonan Guard?" she asked.  
  
"_We are! And you are trespassing within the borders of our space,"_ he declaimed in an imperious tone.  
  
That fit in with the little she'd heard of the Guard. She'd never seen them face to face before, but Neelix had told her they had bright orange eyes and green skin. He'd described them as nasty types who usually shot first and asked questions later. She should probably be grateful they chose to demand her compliance before attacking; it had given her enough time to sense their intentions. At the moment, however, Kes wasn't in a particularly forgiving mood. She was about to say so when she noted several beings in the background who were of a race Kes had encountered in the past.  
  
"You have Haakonians traveling with you?" Kes inquired.  
  
The alien froze so briefly, it might not have been detectable to most people. Kes caught it and knew that no matter what he said next, he would be dissembling.  
  
"_You must be mistaken. Only the Krowtonan Guard travel on this ship."_  
  
"I can see two Haakonians clearly, standing next to one another, right there, behind your left shoulder," Kes persisted.  
  
The scope of the visual transmission shrank until only the face of the Guard to whom she was speaking was completely visible. Even so, one Haakonian had to step away to prevent his forehead from remaining in view.  
  
Kes laughed. "Keep your secrets, then. I'll find out what I need to know about the Haakonians and the Krowtonan Guard elsewhere, if that's the way you want it. I doubt others will describe you the way you would yourselves."  
  
The Guard officer grunted but declined to say anything more in response.  
  
"Then may I ask you a few questions about other races in this sector? What is happening among the Kazon sects, the Talaxians, the Trabe, and the Vidiians?"  
  
Apparently gossiping about other races was not quite as threatening to the Krowtonan Guard as direct questions about themselves were. After turning away and mumbling to someone now out of sight, he began to lecture stiffly, as if to a lesser officer he didn't much care for.  
  
_"Several Kazon sects are active in this area. They are as vicious and as disorganized as ever. You would be well advised to avoid them. Vidiian vessels have been seen, but rarely. There have not been any confirmed attacks by Vidiians on other vessels for over four years. The Trabe have not been seen for the past two years, although rumors abound that they hide, waiting for chances to strike the unwary. The Haakonian Protectorate continues to provide for the defense of Talax. Several vessels have disappeared near Talax under mysterious circumstances during the last few years, however. You would be wise not to travel in that direction. Two derelict Borg vessels were found recently, apparently abandoned, and filled with the corpses of drones. No living Borg have been active in this vicinity in over a year. I have answered your questions. Is there anything more you require?"_  
  
His frosty tone made it perfectly clear he'd already supplied more than he wanted to share with her. While Kes would have liked to learn much more, she decided not to waste any more time speaking with him. She doubted he would be willing to provide any information about a planet for the Ocampa. It was obvious the Krowtonan Guard and/or the Haakonians would "protect" any planet settled in this vicinity. The Ocampa had already been "protected," in that sense of the word, almost to extinction. As graciously as she could, Kes answered, "No. You've been very helpful."  
  
As she leaned over break contact, the Krowtonan Guardsman surprised her. _"Kes of the Ocampa people, I warn you: be vigilant when strange vessels are sighted, as we are! They are more likely to be enemies than friends."_  
  
_So that's how they justify their behavior_, Kes mused, although, considering those in the immediate neighborhood, this advice might be warranted. Rather than pushing him into making further disclosures, Kes said, "Thanks again for your advice. Now, do you need any help to repair your ship, Captain...?"  
  
_"NO!"_ the Krowtonan Guard officer yelled, declining to give his name.  
  
"I'll be on my way then, Captain. Thanks again for the information." Kes smiled at him sweetly, then cut the transmission abruptly. Closing her eyes, Kes concentrated upon herself and her shuttle. Her awareness slipped down to the subatomic level where it must be for her to "play," as she thought of it, when she shifted from one state to another.  
  
Kes' smile disappeared like the Cheshire Cat's in a book she'd read once on _Voyager_ as her shuttle melted around her. She turned into a being of energy and light. She imagined the Krowtonan Guard and their shadowy Haakonian compatriots/allies were falling all over themselves in consternation at her sudden disappearance, wondering about the sort of drive she was using to create that particular visual effect.  
  
_Let them puzzle over that a good long time,_ she thought smugly, as she headed out into this dangerous region of space, one which Kes and the Ocampa would soon leave for a safer area some distance away. Or so she hoped.  
  
_  
_**_ShahKar, Vulcan--May 4, 2380, Stardate 56341.2_  
**  
As soon as she entered the room, T'Pel realized that her husband had made up his mind. She did not require telepathy to know this.  
  
After almost seven decades together as bonded mates, Tuvok's body language had become imprinted within her soul. She was as familiar with it as she was the sound of his voice echoing in the hallway, or the brush of his mind against hers in a meld. When Starfleet first informed her that the ship carrying her husband into the Badlands had been declared lost, the prospect of never seeing or hearing or feeling him ever again had drained her of all emotion. Ironically, this admittedly emotional response to tragedy had brought her to the state which all Vulcans seek. After the memorial service which formally established T'Pel's widowhood, she meditated daily, by force of habit. She'd never controlled her emotions for the simple reason she had none. She was numb.  
  
Then the numbness faded, and T'Pel perceived a tenuous yet familiar vibration in her soul whenever she meditated. She consulted with experts in such matters. Several experts with whom she consulted observed that the telepathic bond which linked husband and wife seemingly was still present; they continued to be among the parted, but never parted. Most added that it was an interesting phenomenon but meant nothing. Some, however, most notably T'Verren at the temple on Mount Seleya, assured T'Pel that if her husband had truly died, their link would have decayed by the time T'Pel come to her. From then on, T'Pel had to double and redouble her emotional control through meditative techniques, for one constantly asserted itself. Hope.  
  
Though T'Pel was certain her husband lived on somewhere, she did not know whether she would ever see him again. She did what she could to find out what may have happened, even traveling to Deep Space Nine at one point to speak to personnel there who had traveled the Badlands or slipped into an alternate universe. During that visit, T'Pel formed the hypothesis that the Maquis ship and _Voyager_ had fallen into the Mirror Universe. Since others had escaped, perhaps her husband could do the same.  
  
Her theory may have been erroneous, but hope had been fulfilled despite it. Tuvok had returned to her, and she could again observe his body language, hear his voice, and touch his mind in actual fact, not just in memory.  
  
This morning Tuvok sat hunched forward in the chair, almost as if he were about to launch himself out of it. Observing the calm expression upon his face and the relaxed way his hands were steepled together but resting upon his lap, T'Pel knew he intended no such thing. As if that were not enough of a clue, she noted Tuvok had lit the candles in the wall sconces in their meditation chamber, but not the meditation lamp itself. The time for concentrating upon the flame and considering his options had passed. Tuvok had come to a decision, and he was about to share it with her.  
  
Since only one question had dominated her husband's thoughts for many weeks, she also knew which decision he must have made. The one thing she could not tell from his stance was whether the decision he'd reached was "Stay" or "Leave."  
  
"T'Pel, please be seated."  
  
She took the seat facing his. The light from the sconces flickered over Tuvok's skin, highlighting its noble contours even as it reflected sparks of fire out of the depths of his brown eyes. For several seconds they remained as immobile as statuary carved out of rich warm wood in the days before Surak.  
  
She waited for him to speak first, but when he remained silent after she sat down, T'Pel was unable to hold her tongue. "I await your words, husband."  
  
Even then, Tuvok hesitated, taking a very deep breath before saying, "I have decided to resign my Starfleet commission."  
  
Because of his long struggle in making this decision, she had halfway expected this result, but she surprised herself with her own reaction to his announcement. "Are you certain this is the path you wish to take? You left Starfleet once before..."  
  
"I am certain." He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You sound displeased. I had thought you would look forward to my spending more time with our family on Vulcan."  
  
"I do look forward to spending more time with you. Our children, however, have reached the point in their lives when they are carving out their own paths. They are much less at home now as a consequence, and..." Her voice died away in mid-sentence.  
  
"Yes? What else?" Tuvok asked somewhat gruffly, when her hesitation lasted beyond a few seconds.  
  
"I cannot forget you left Starfleet once before; yet later, you came to have grave doubts as to the wisdom of that decision."  
  
Tuvok opened his mouth to reply but, in his turn, he hesitated. He could not deny T'Pel's observation. Finally, he said, "While this may be true, I have had the opportunity since then to return to the service. I have achieved the goals I once set for myself. I have never had the desire to obtain command of a Starfleet vessel of my own. Any questions I may have asked myself about this subject were fully answered when I assumed command of _Voyager, _at the time we were forced to...abandon Captain Janeway and Chakotay upon the planet they called New Earth."  
  
"It was an unpleasant experience."  
  
Tuvok stood up and began to pace, his hands clasped behind his back. "Having the crew question my decisions? In particular, my acceptance of Captain Janeway's express orders to avoid the Vidiians at all costs while journeying home to the Federation? It was an unpleasant experience, granted. Yet it was also to be expected. The non-Vulcan members of the crew possess extremely volatile natures. I dealt with it adequately."  
  
"By agreeing to their demand to contact the Vidiians, if I recall correctly? Yes, that dealt with the problem quite well," T'Pel stated calmly, with a only a slight hint of sarcasm. "However, it was not your command of _Voyager_ to which I referred as being the 'unpleasant experience,' but rather that you were forced to leave your friend and commanding officer Kathryn Janeway behind, never expecting to see her or Commander Chakotay again."  
  
Tuvok came to an abrupt halt in mid-stride. His left foot stumbled slightly upon a minute irregularity of the flagstone flooring as he faced T'Pel. Despite his need to suppress a sudden surge of emotion that assailed him at the reminder of that experience, he could not help noticing how beautifully her skin was highlighted by the glow of afternoon sunlight flowing from the far window and onto her face.  
  
"Yes, it was unpleasant," he admitted. "It cannot compare to another time, however, when I was stranded on a planet with few resources for what Lieutenant Paris and I thought were many months. We believed _Voyager_, thinking us lost, had left us behind. I thought I would never return to Vulcan or see you again."  
  
T'Pel rose to her feet. Wordlessly, she extended her fingers to him. He accepted her offering, stroking them gently. No off-worlder could ever know just how intensely their bond was expressed by simply exchanging the sense of touch; but, of course, none were present to see them at that moment.  
  
When Tuvok would have dropped his hand to his side, T'Pel clasped it between both of hers and said huskily, "Bitter were the years before we received word your vessel survived. I did not lose faith that you still lived, for I sensed our bond too deeply for you to have been lost forever. I must confess, I awoke many times wondering how many nights I would sleep alone before you returned to my side. Or if you ever would."  
  
"Then you understand why I refuse to risk such another parting?"  
  
T'Pel sighed heavily. "I do, for I also would not care to experience another separation like it. In the future, however, Starfleet Command could reverse the decision not to accept my application to serve them as a civilian. Perhaps we could wait a little longer to notify them of your intention to resign."  
  
"In such case, I am sure they would consider accepting me back to active duty. As you noted only a few minutes ago, they did so once before, despite the many years that had passed before I requested reinstatement."  
  
Her lips quivered slightly as she raised her right eyebrow. "They did indeed. I trust they would have the good sense to so once again."  
  
Slowly, Tuvok raised his free hand to his wife's face, tracing the line of demarcation between shadow and sunlight on his wife's cheek, once again contemplating the merits of the matrimonial state.  
  
_  
_****_Horspant District offices, Vidiia-- May 6, 2380, Stardate 56345.4_  
  
"Ah, Dr. Pel, how good of you to meet with me," Councilor-Delegate Quentan Drin of the Horspant District said with a motion that indicating where she should sit.  
  
Denara took the offered chair. "Thank you for the invitation, Councilor." She placed a packet of documents on the Councilor-Delegate's desk. "I brought my research results with me for your review." She waited a second before realizing he wasn't going to look at them. "We've had excellent success with Derogasta Prenikolium combined with..."  
  
"Denara...Dr. Pel, I am familiar with your excellent research into post-Phage medical treatments," Drin said. "I have been your strongest advocate here in the Sodality. But the realities ..." he hesitated a second, "...of the present economic downturn demand that we make sacrifices for the greater good."  
  
She closed her eyes at the word sacrifice. Drin continued to utter the words she'd spent many sleepless night worrying that he was going to say. "I'm sorry to say, we're going to have to make significant cuts in the National Budget." He hesitated. "Unfortunately, we are cutting funding to almost all research projects, including yours."  
  
"Sir, you can't. Our people NEED the treatment. And we have to continue our research into...that other problem." She knew that Drin was a prude. Mentioning the infertility problems of well over fifty percent of the population would _embarrass_ him.  
  
He still stuttered his response. "I'm sorry, Dr. Pel. I will continue to try to find funds for your studies. Several corporations are interested in providing funding for worthwhile research."  
  
She grimaced. She'd wanted to avoid corporate funding. Her research was for the good of the people--and she wondered if a corporation would understand that.  
  
"Times are hard, as I know you are well aware. The Antiphagia found by our scientists freed our people from worry about the Phage--but because of the increased survival rate the unemployment rate has increased."  
  
"The economy was in ruins long before the Antiphagia was found," Denara said, as mildly as she could. Even that wasn't a very politic thing to say, but it was all she could do to keep herself from snarling at him. Vidiia's politicians had been trotting out that lame excuse constantly in recent days. It was as if they'd gathered together in a room somewhere to decide on the exact wording.  
  
Drin nodded. "I'm sorry Denara, I wish I could do something." He smiled suddenly. "Oh, perhaps I can. Mupano Industries has recently shown an interest in stepping in to provide funding for worthwhile research projects. I can write a letter of introduction before I retire from my position."  
  
"That would be appreciated," Denara said. She tried to sound enthusiastic, but the look on Drin's face suggested she hadn't succeeded. "Thank you."  
  
"Denara, I know this decision must be very upsetting..."  
  
"I need to return to my clinic, sir." She stood, trying not to cry. "Counselor Drin, I really do...appreciate everything you've done for me..."  
  
"Denara..." She was out the door before he finished. She swore silently to the many gods--she didn't really care which one heard her. Or perhaps she wanted them all to hear.  
  
"Damn them all. They're dooming our people!"  
  



	5. Act 2

**  
Act Two**  
  
**_Nekrit Supply Depot--September 9, 2380, Stardate 56690.4_**  
  
When she first left Ocampa, Kes took a similar heading to the one _Voyager_ did when leaving her home planet ten years ago. The people of _Voyager_ hadn't been looking for a place to settle; they'd been looking for the way home. Kes thought she remembered a few places they had passed that had been uninhabited. Perhaps one of them would prove to be the sanctuary she sought.  
  
It had taken _Voyager's_ crew more than two years to reach the supply depot at the edge of the Nekrit Expanse. Kes managed to get there in five months, despite making several stops along the way to investigate planets she thought might be possibilities.  
  
It would have taken _Voyager_ less than a year if the ship could have taken a straight course, without running into any trouble along the way from various aggressors like the Kazon and the Vidiians. Instead, Captain Janeway's crew had been forced to take a meandering course, looking to replenish scarce energy and food supplies along the way. The extent of Kes' food foraging was ordering meals whenever she stopped at an inhabited planet. Her original supplies of food from home, which she consumed in her shuttle when she didn't feel like stopping, were not exhausted (although her choices were becoming more limited, and therefore, somewhat boring to eat).  
  
Kes' travel time was also markedly reduced because she gave her little shuttle a "push" for a few seconds from time to time. The distance a conventional warp drive craft would need a week or more to traverse, Kes traveled in a few minutes after one of her "pushes," but she couldn't keep that pace up for long. For every "push" lasting more than a few seconds at her personal "Warp 9.99999," Kes was limp and weak for the next several hours. This was acceptable during her search, since she needed to complete it in a reasonable length of time; but once she reached the Nekrit Supply Depot, she knew she had reached the practical limits for a move for her people. Kes needed to find a planet within reach of Ocampa, not one so far from her home planet, there was no practical way to transport her people to the new one.  
  
Even getting as far as the Nekrit Expanse might be impossible, and once she'd arrived, whispers about aggressive peoples like the Voth and the Srivani who would be encountered further ahead abounded amongst those she met at the Nekrit Supply Depot. Information in her shuttle's data banks, as well as what Kes remembered, confirmed her feeling that it was impractical to search further this way. It looked like Kes would have to turn back to investigate possibilities in a direction _Voyager_ had never explored. After months of travel, Kes had identified only one possibility, and she was very unsure she should recommend it to her people.  
  
Kes had visited the Briorii world when _Voyager_ had discovered the "37's," as Captain Janeway had called them. Eight human beings who had been taken from Earth in 1937, including aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her copilot Fred Noonan, were discovered in cryostasis units and revived. Aliens had apparently taken them, along with three hundred other human beings, to this side of the galaxy to use as slaves. The Terrans had revolted against their Briorii overlords, killed them, and destroyed their ship. The aliens had never returned. Now a hundred thousand people, descended from those three hundred former slaves, invited the crew of _Voyager_ to join their colony. Kes had believed this was likely to be a good option for her people--before she arrived.  
  
One hundred fifty or so members of a starship's crew are a far cry from well over a million refugee Ocampa, however. The colonists had not been quite as welcoming to Kes as she'd expected, based upon the way they'd greeted _Voyager's_ crew. Perhaps the fact that Voyager's crew was over 90% human and the Ocampa, obviously, were not might have been a factor. The planet itself, which would probably be considered L-Class type, was had a much more rigorous climate than she'd remembered, too. The truly habitable areas of the globe were quite limited. The areas identified as possible sites for Ocampa settlements were alarmingly dry, reminiscent of the barren deserts covering the surface of her native planet. Kes had grave doubts that her people would be willing to move to another dry planet, even if they were completely welcome by those already living there.   
  
She didn't think they were particularly disappointed when she said, basically, "I'll be in touch." They knew as well as she did that it was unlikely they'd hear from her again.  
  
While pondering whether to strike out immediately in a completely different direction or return home to Ocampa to report on what she'd found out so far, she had a chance encounter. Walking down the restaurant corridor of the depot, Kes had to dodge a large reptilian in possession of a tail with an apparent life of its own. It was slashing from side to side vigorously. When she tried to jump over it before it smashed into her shin, Kes tripped on it instead and crashed into a Talaxian who was making his own valiant attempt to avoid stomping on the errant appendage. The tail beat them both.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Kes said, helping the hapless Talaxian up from the pavement.  
  
"The fault is completely mine, lovely lady. Please accept my sincere apologies. To atone for my error, allow me to purchase some refreshments for you. Captain Jixtan of the Talaxian freighter _Victorious Morning_ is my name. And yours is...?"  
  
"My name is Kes, " she replied, noting the Talaxian captain's resemblance to Wixiban, the "old friend" of Neelix's who once led him astray on this very station. She certainly hoped he was more trustworthy than Wix had been. Regardless of his morals, Captain Jixtan obviously wasn't averse to flattering an old woman. "You don't have to get me anything," she added. "I'm fine. But are you all right? I happen to have medical training, and I am well-versed in Talaxian physiology."  
  
"I feel fine...but perhaps it would be a good idea if you placed me under observation for a short while--for medical purposes only, of course--and that beverage and snack shop over there looks like an excellent spot to do that. Please, come there with me."  
  
Almost before she realized it, Kes found herself seated at a small table while an obviously healthy Captain Jixtan fetched her the cup of herb tea he'd finally convinced her to accept. She laughed at herself. Her reasons for accepting his offer were as transparent to him as his were to her. After enduring so much solitude for the past few months, she found the prospect of conversing with a familiar sort of face very appealing, even if this Captain Jixtan was a stranger.  
  
While Jixtan waited in the long line to be served, peeking over his shoulder from time to time to flutter his fingers at Kes, she relaxed at the table, enjoying the parade of alien beings passing by. Many belonged to races she recognized, but even more did not. The Nekrit Expanse truly was a very long way from her home. How overwhelming it must have been in those early days for the crew of _Voyager_, faced with a journey ten times as long! She'd always considered them all to be courageous explorers, especially when they'd had a chance to settle on the world of the '37's themselves but chose to plow on towards home instead. Now that she was on her own, even though she was traveling through a region of space with which she was quite familiar, loneliness was her constant companion. She hadn't dealt with that sensation well at all after she'd left _Voyager_ that first time; but there was one thing she could say for that experience: she had survived, so she knew she would be able to do it again.  
  
"Here you are," Captain Jixtan said, placing a tray before her with a flourish. The pot of herb tea sat next to two stacking mugs, which were accompanied by a small plate of dainty pastries, of a type that Neelix used to make. This accidental reminder of her former love made her a little misty-eyed from nostalgia, but she accepted one of the cakes without comment. Jixtan sipped his own tea and nibbled on a cake, sharing the moment in respectful silence.  
  
When he spoke again, Captain Jixtan reminded Kes even more of Neelix. "You look like you've lost your best friend. Is there any way I might be of help?"  
  
She smiled at him gratefully. "Sparing a little of your time right now to spend with an old woman like me is a great help. Thank you so much. How's your foot doing? I really am sorry I stepped on it."  
  
"Oh, it's just fine. I think you stepped harder on that Valyrian's tail, and I don't think she even noticed." He took another sip of tea. "Well, now. You're certainly a fair way from home. Where are you bound? Are you just starting out, or are you heading back home to the station?"  
  
Kes hesitated a moment, a little confused; then she understood. Captain Jixtan thought she was one of the Ocampa from Suspiria's station, as he logically would. Even the Ocampa on the station had been surprised when Kes arrived there with _Voyager_. She considering whether or not it would be easier to let him think she was from the Ocampa station, but honesty won out. "Actually, I'm not from the Ocampa Space Station, although I understand why you would think that. I visited it once, about eight years ago."  
  
Jixtan raised his brows. "But if you're not from the station, where are you from?"  
  
"From the Ocampa homeworld, not far from Talax."  
  
"Really? That's fascinating!" the captain exclaimed. "I had no idea any Ocampa still lived on that planet."  
  
"Not on, within. We live underground."  
  
"Well, what do you think of that? Most people I know believe the story about the Ocampa moving underground is just a legend. And after that last bombardment from the Array, before the Kazon destroyed it, I would have thought if any Ocampa were still hiding out somehow, they would have been killed."  
  
"The Ocampa retreat underground is not a legend. The barrage from the Array was meant to seal us in, away from predators like the Kazon, but now we need to find a new home. We're running out of room..."  
  
Captain Jixtan was a good listener. Once she began telling him the story of her people, Kes found herself spilling out her impressions about the various planets she'd passed on the way, asking him to add anything he might know about them, to obtain a second opinion to add to her own perceptions. She remained deliberately vague about the dates and details of her arrivals and departures, however, implying that she'd left Ocampa several months earlier than she actually had. Captain Jixtan seemed very nice, but he didn't need to know about the speeds she could move her little shuttle when she had the energy to do it. She also decided not to discuss the Briorii world, curious to see if he would bring them up himself as a possibility.  
  
"The Myleans are under the hegemony of the Haakonians, I hear."  
  
"Yes, they are. The Talaxians are still ruled by them, too," Captain Jixtan sadly confirmed. "And you know about the Krowtonan Guards, of course?"  
  
"Are the Krowtonan Guards ruled by the Haakonians?" Kes asked, expressing a degree of surprise which she did not feel because of her encounter with the Guard ship.  
  
"Oh, yes. They claim to be 'allies' rather than subject people, but there's always at least two Haakonian officers on every Guard ship. You don't find a Krowtonan Guard officer on every Haakonian ship, I can tell you that."  
  
Kes filed this information away to consider further, then continued her litany. "The Baneans and Numari are still fighting each other. It wouldn't be safe to settle there. The Mithrens and Rukani were very pleasant and hospitable towards me, but both claim to have massive problems with overpopulation and can't possibly help. No room for the Ocampa on any of their planets."  
  
"I think there's some truth to what the Rukani told you, Kes, but the Mithrens aren't all that crowded on their planets."  
  
"We wouldn't be welcome there then, that's clear. Let me see, who else have I met? Oh, yes. The Sikarians. They were coldly polite. They made their reluctance to have any personal contact with me very obvious. I'm from a 'primitive society that has little to offer in the way of compensation' for any land graciously given to us by the Sikarians. I left them without any regrets. They'd make for intolerable neighbors anyway."  
  
Captain Jixtan laughingly confirmed that the less one saw of the Sikarians, the better.  
  
"I found out the Sikarians claim Irixios, too, so that was another planet I had to cross off my list. Then I tried to visit the Drayans, but they're as xenophobic as ever. If there is a planet where the Ocampa could settle within the region they claim, I'll never find it. They denied me permission even to travel through their space."  
  
"I'm not surprised. They had an unfortunate experience with a ship traveling from the other side of the galaxy several years ago, I hear. They claim their religious beliefs were violated. They want even less to do with the rest of us than they did before--and it wasn't much back then. I'm surprised they were even willing to talk to you. They were heavily veiled, I suppose, even though they were talking over your communication device?"  
  
"Yes, they were all veiled." Kes decided it would be wise not to mention anything about her connection with _Voyager_. Fortunately, she'd obscured the markings on the shuttle that identified it as a Starfleet craft.  
  
After a slight hesitation, she said, "I know there are quite a few planets I've, uh...heard about that are uninhabited now, but they're owned by one race or another. Perhaps a small group of a few thousand or so could hide out on one for a while and be overlooked, but it would be dangerous to do it without having a strong defense force for protection. If the possessor of one of those planets found out and decided to displace us forcibly, we Ocampa would have more problems than we have now. And we have a lot more than a few thousand to move to a new home. Think how many planets we'd have to sneak onto in order for everyone to have a home! That's no way to live. No wonder the Trabe are so bitter. They've had to retreat to their own vessels for a long time, fated to wander from star to star, because they don't have a homeworld."  
  
Captain Jixtan leaned back, shaking his head. "You're right about the Trabe. It has been a struggle for them, but they aren't entirely blameless, you know."  
  
Kes smiled. "I know there's always two sides to every story. And I guess I learned the hard way it isn't so easy finding another home. I wish it were otherwise."  
  
"I do, too. You've had quite an amazing journey! I wish I knew of a place to recommend, but you seem to have looked into the ones I thought might be available. I didn't even know Irixios was claimed by the Sikarians! It's too bad so many planets are claimed by races that have the power to hold them without really needing the planet, at least, not now. But wait--the Vidiians--you didn't mention them. If you have something to offer them, they might be willing to come to an agreement over one of their uninhabited planets. They have so many!"  
  
Kes shuddered. "Not the Vidiians! I don't want my people to become stockpiled body parts!"  
  
"Oh, they don't steal body parts any more. Didn't you hear? Word is they found a cure for the Phage."  
  
"I heard about that, but I didn't know if I should really believe it," Kes said, skepticism evident in her tone of voice. Having lost a lung to the Vidiian's organ-stealing ways, Kes would need more than rumors of a cure to approach the Vidiians.  
  
"It certainly seems to be true. Except for the occasional trade ship, the Vidiians are hardly seen around the sector now. It's almost as if they've gone into hiding. Your reaction to them is fairly typical, so it might be they're lying low for a while, until resentment towards them for what they did to survive fades a little. Most people do forget, in time. Except the Drayans, maybe."  
  
"I should think the Vidiians _would_ want to keep out of the way for a while. I knew people who lost their lives to them."  
  
"Many others say the same." Captain Jixtan smoothed his whiskers down in a gesture Neelix always used, making Kes feel even more nostalgic for her old boyfriend.  
  
"You said you visited the Ocampa space station once, over eight years ago. Why not go back now? Maybe they could help your search--although, come to think of it, I'm sure they would never have moved their station there if they'd had any choice in the matter."  
  
"They moved the station away from where it was?" Kes asked, wondering if it had anything to do with _Voyager's_ visit.  
  
"About three--no, it's been four years since it moved to the Qizal-Corana system. How time slips away, eh? Well, Quizal-Corana is quite a star system. Quite the system! Caused quite an uproar when the station suddenly disappeared and turned up there."  
  
"The Quizal-Corana system? I've never heard of it."  
  
"Before the Ocampa station moved there, I only knew it as one of those places you traveled around rather than through. It's more than a bit scary. It's a binary system, and not the most stable one I've ever seen. The station is just one of many smaller objects in orbit around the stars. There are two gas giants, four metal core planets, and _three_ asteroid belts--not to mention several massive debris fields circling around those suns. With the erratic gravitational stresses in the system, sometimes one of the planetary bodies gets caught and boom! Another debris field. That happened less than a century ago, according to scientists who have studied the system. In time, the debris fields turn into asteroid belts, I suppose."  
  
"That doesn't sound like the sort of place anyone would choose to move a space station. If it's so dangerous, why did Suspiria..." Kes stopped abruptly, not sure how generally Suspiria's presence was known by non-Ocampa.  
  
"Why did that pet creature of theirs put them there? The story I heard was Suspiria moved them to where they could obtain sufficient energy supplies and materials for building, once she realized she was dying. Six major shipping lanes cross just outside that system, and there's nothing else out there to service ships, so that may be another reason she picked that spot. Business has always been booming whenever I stop by. Lots of travelers come through there--and some of them might have traveled in areas worth investigating. Maybe they'd have a lead for you to explore."  
  
Kes sighed. "I don't know about that. When I was there about eight years ago with...with some friends of mine, we didn't leave under the happiest of circumstances. There could still be hard feelings."  
  
"Eight years is a long time. I'd say it's worth a try," Jixtan said.  
  
"True. Eight years is a long time to anyone, but especially to an Ocampa. Were you there recently?" After Jixtan agreed he had been, Kes asked, "Was there someone named Tanis running the place?"  
  
"Why, yes. A young fellow, a bit self-important, but efficient enough. Did you know him? Oh, no. I don't think you could have. I distinctly recall him saying he was only five years old. You must be thinking of old Tanis, his grandfather. Now _he_ was a strange one! He died--or what do you call it now? He 'passed into his Morilogium' about the time the station got moved. He passed right after Suspiria shriveled up."  
  
If both Suspiria and Tanis were gone, it might not be a bad place to visit after all, Kes thought. "I don't know the way to this Qizal-Corona...oh, it's the Qizal-Corana system, right?"  
  
"That's it. Don't worry, I know the way. Giving you the coordinates will be a pleasure, lovely Kes."  
  
  
**_Quizal-Corana Space Station--September 19, 2380, Stardate 56717.4  
  
_**Captain Jixtan had been a Talaxian of his word and supplied Kes with accurate coordinates for the Ocampa station. By the time of his departure from the depot two days after they'd met, bound for Sakura Prime, she'd become rather fond of him. His outrageous but entertaining flirtations never ceased. Kes didn't really mind. She couldn't help but feel flattered by his attentions. As old as she now was, not to mention looked, she apparently still had what it takes to attract a Talaxian!  
  
Kes also suspected he was as lonely as she was. Captain Jixtan was owner, pilot, and entire crew for the _Victorious Morning_, just as Neelix had been a solitary trader, although Jixtan's ship was considerably larger than Neelix's. And, like Neelix, Jixtan had no close family left. His family had lived on Rinax, too.  
  
Before his departure, Jixtan gave her three methods of contacting him if she felt his ship could help transporting goods. "Perhaps I could even find a way to squeeze in a few families to bring them to the new home of the Ocampa." Kes was touched by the offer, since it told her he had faith in her ability to achieve her goal.  
  
It also made her realize that even when she found a place for the Ocampa to settle, the logistics of conveying her people to their new home would be truly mind boggling, requiring an incredible amount of preparation, prioritization of tasks, and a degree of organization she had not permitted her to think about beyond the abstract so far. All that, and they'd need to find ships to ferry them from Ocampa to their new home, too. It was premature to spend a lot of time thinking about how to secure the ships now, however. After all, if they had no place to move to, transport wouldn't be needed.  
  
Kes was sitting on the main concourse of the station that had been home to two thousand or so of her fellow for the past three centuries when she experienced that nagging feeling one sometimes gets, when one feels there is an important message to be relayed to someone else, but you can't quite remember who it is to, or if it's really that important. Kes firmly believed she could not be experiencing _déjà vu._ She really _had_ been here before, to all intents and purposes. Perhaps that strange feeling was sheer disbelief she was back on the Ocampa space station. With all that had happened before to her here, she never expected to return of her own volition.  
  
Allowing the flattery of Tanis to tempt her into becoming an aggressor, literally making her friend and mentor Tuvok's blood begin to boil, killing the plants in airponics that she'd spent so many happy hours nurturing--these were among the memories she hated to revisit. The selfish and cruel dark side of her personality, which she hadn't known she'd possessed, first unveiled itself here, foreshadowing her later return to _Voyager_, when she'd created havoc and threatened death to those who did not deserve it. So "visit the Ocampa space station where Suspiria lived" would never have been on her itinerary if Jixtan hadn't talked her into it.  
  
The long-range move of the station had not caused any noticeable damage to the physical condition of the station. Its corridors looked much the same as the last time Kes had visited it. The colors differed somewhat from those she remembered, of course. Harsh light from the binary system's stars flooded the interior. One sun was nearly orange while the other, almost blue-white, creating intriguing shadows because of their contrasting hues. The artificial orb Suspiria had provided to illuminate her station at its former location bathed everything with a soft, almost gentle glow.  
  
Jixtan told Kes her first stop, once she arrived at the station, should be to the office of Station Master Tanis. He was effusive when she arrived, saying, "I hear you knew my grandfather. A wonderful man! We all miss him so."  
  
Kes was rendered speechless that he knew who she was but wasn't angry with her. Considering the circumstances with which she and _Voyager_ left the station, Kes decided to offer as few details as she could about the manner of her previous departure. She didn't want to prod the memories of any older Ocampa who might have more accurate memories of the event than young Tanis apparently did.  
  
Fortunately, Kes didn't have to say very much. This Tanis enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice even more than his grandfather had, if his interactions with Kes that day were typical. He nattered on and on, imparting a great deal of information about planets in the sector. He quickly confirmed that Captain Jixtan's knowledge of the facts of the station's move was accurate. When Suspiria finally accepted she was dying, she dragged the station into this system, the best option she could find with the strength she had left.  
  
During the week Kes spent on the station, she learned much that surprised her. While the station was closer to more major shipping lanes than at its original location, on the whole, the Ocampa were not happy here. Although life on the station was lucrative, the uncertainty about how long the station could survive in this system dampened their spirits. It might have been different if Suspiria was still around to protect them, but Kes doubted it. Another factor seemed almost as important.  
  
After three centuries of space station living, most of the "station" Ocampa were tired of living their lives in an unnatural environment. They were eager and willing to emigrate to a planet. The ideal situation would have been to move to a planet within the Qizal-Corana system, with the station handling the bulk of the interstellar traffic. Unfortunately, as Jixtan had explained, the Qizal-Corana system had no planets or even any large moons with the potential to be colonized by the Ocampa. There may have been one in the past; one of the asteroid belts was positioned exactly where one would expect a Class M planet to be.  
  
Kes considered all she had learned of the sporocystian life forms she'd known as the Caretakers. Kes knew it was unwise to generalize when the representative sample of a species numbers only two, but this pair had both exhibited an astounding lack of foresight. They were responsible for the original calamity to Ocampa, when they "accidentally" stripped the Ocampa home planet of its ability to produce rain. Her own Caretaker had shown a callous disregard for those he considered "lesser life forms," stealing many shiploads of people from all across the galaxy while looking to create a replacement for himself, but he never bothered to send the rejects home once he realized they wouldn't do.  
  
Now, to these faults, she must add Suspiria's choice of a planetary system refuge for "her" Ocampa. Kes could give her the benefit of the doubt to some degree. Suspiria was influenced by how far she could travel with the station when she was in failing health. Of course, if she'd faced the truth sooner, she might have been able to take them to a better location. Both Caretakers seemed to act without properly weighing the pros and cons of their actions before jumping in and doing them. Kes wondered if this was a weakness of all of the Nacene species, or if the Ocampa had simply had the misfortune to be visited by a very dysfunctional couple.  
  
One thing was clear: the bestowal of unimaginable power did not mean that wisdom--or, for that matter, compassion--would be received in equal measure. It was a sobering observation, which Kes' contacts with the imperious, self-centered Q had only reinforced.  
  
As she sat in the cafe, trying to decide upon her next move now that she knew those on the station didn't have any recommendations for her, Kes suddenly began to shiver uncontrollably. Grabbing herself around the upper arms and rubbing them to warm herself up, Kes tried to will herself into not shaking. Gradually, she recognized the feeling reminded her of a terrifying event which had occurred several years ago. Frantically, Kes scanned the area around her, searching for a person belonging to a species that had once threatened the life of every living thing in the galaxy. None bore the distinctive three-legged physique of Species 8472, a form which still occasionally invaded her sleep with nightmares, yet the buzzing inside her head simply wouldn't go away. While she tried to calm her jangled nerves, Kes studied every being within her line of sight more carefully.  
  
Kes was shocked when she finally recognized them. They were masquerading as fellow Ocampa. So innocuous-looking! Who would ever guess who--or what--they really were?  
  
The "Ocampa woman" was tall, better described as distinguished or handsome rather than beautiful. Her hair was a deep red, but otherwise, there was little to differentiate her from any other Ocampa. The "gentleman" sitting next to her had tufts of hair on his eyebrows, pale blue eyes, and a shock of white hair that made him look eighteen if he were a day. He was studying Kes as keenly as she was staring at him.  
  
As Kes felt anger surging through her, she forced herself to become calmer, using the Vulcan disciplines Tuvok had shared with her. The last thing she wanted now was to lose control. Her fury could be terrible, as she'd learned to her despair on other occasions. Kes had to control it at all times or risk "losing her way" again. Just because she must control her anger, however, didn't mean she must avoid a confrontation. Picking up her empty food containers, Kes threw them into the nearest recycle bin and strode determinedly to the pair at the nearby table, never breaking eye contact with the male until she stood at rigid attention in front of him.  
  
Kes said firmly. "You can't hide from me."  
  
"No, Missy, I don't believe we can. But what makes you assume we want to hide from you? We don't particularly--not from you, at any rate. Would you care to join us? I think it's time we had a little chat."  
  
"Joining two members of Species 8472 for a chat! Oh, yes--I know what you are," Kes stated firmly, maintaining a tight rein on her temper.  
  
"Please," the female person sniffed, "designation by number is a horrid thing. What else can one expect from the Borg?"  
  
Gesturing towards the empty seat across from his, the masculine entity said, "You can call me Boothby if you want to, Missy. Call her Valerie Archer. Those are the names Kathryn Janeway knows us by--although we weren't wearing ears like yours when we saw her last."  
  
"You've met with Captain Janeway? Personally? Did you invite her back to fluidic space to chat, or did you see her out here?" As she spit out the words, Kes abruptly sat down.  
  
The one who called himself Boothby projected a telepathic thought into Kes' mind so unexpectedly, she had no time to shield herself from it._ [[Please don't speak so loudly about fluidic space here, Kes. The fewer beings that know about us in your non-fluidic space, the better--for now.]]  
_  
Kes was more than a little dismayed by the mental intrusion, but after thinking about it for a moment, she decided he had a point. Until she knew what they were up to, shouting out who they were might incite panic--assuming anyone in this area of space had ever heard of Species 8472. Still, it wasn't likely to gain her anything.  
  
Using one of the relaxation techniques she'd learned from Tuvok, Kes projected back to him_, [[I can understand you don't want us to use a Borg designation, but what do I call your species? What is your name for yourselves?]]  
  
[[People! That's the only term we ever needed before now! We didn't know any of you existed until our peaceful home domain was invaded by those serially linked killers.]]_  
  
While multiple telepathic communications flew between the three sitting at the table, the Ocampa waiter came to ask Kes if she wanted him to bring another cup of tea to this table to have "with your friends." Kes verbally answered the waiter in the affirmative at the same time she thought to Boothby_, [[Now that you know about the many species who live in non-fluidic space, we need to have a way to differentiate you from everyone else. If you don't want us to keep calling you by a Borg designation, would you agree to be called 'Fluidians,' since that's where you come from?]]_  
  
The Ocampa imitation version of Boothby said aloud, in a soft but intense voice, "You people are the ones with the mania for naming everything. Call us what you like, as long as it isn't that damnable Borg number thing! Fluidians is OK by me."  
  
Valerie Archer remarked, "Actually, I rather like it. 'Fluidian.' It has a nice ring to it. And it's very descriptive."  
  
Kes smiled up at the waiter as he placed the cup of tea in front of her. After he had walked a short distance away, Kes asked, "Where did you meet Captain Janeway? After I left _Voyager_, obviously."  
  
"As my Fluidian self? Or the real Boothby?"  
  
"There's a real Boothby?"  
  
"There is--or was. The real one's passed on, if I'm not mistaken. Someone Janeway knew and respected from her days at Starfleet Academy."  
  
"How did you learn about him?"  
  
"It's a long story, Missy." _[[The short version is we got some from you and from the other telepaths on Voyager when we contacted you during the Borg affair. And we lifted residual memories from the minds of some of the Borg drones when we retaliated against them for their attack upon our space. Several had been 'assimilated' at a place called Wolf 359.]]  
  
[[The real Valerie Archer was one of the assimilated, you know. I patterned myself upon her. She was quite heroic to the last. Descended from one of the oldest Starfleet families, as a matter of fact.]] _The imitation Valerie smiled sadly at Kes. _[[Through me, in a way, she lives on.]]  
  
[[That doesn't answer my question about when and where you actually met Captain Janeway. Stop avoiding the subject.]]  
  
[[True enough, although it's not deliberate. Voyager stopped by one of our stations here in the Delta Quadrant, you see. Six years ago. That's when we met.]]  
_  
_[[Your 'Station?' A staging area for invasion, you mean! I don't suppose you'd let me know when you plan to cleanse our galaxy of every living thing!]]_ Kes' communication was the equivalent of a shout, making both of the Fluidians wince markedly.  
  
"I admit it was originally intended for that purpose," Boothby said affably_. [[The invasion is now on indefinite hold, however.]]_  
  
"You expect me to believe that?" Kes whispered intensely.  
  
_[[If you'd stop erecting those mental barriers, Missy, you'd know I'm not lying to you. A lie is extremely difficult to maintain in mind-to-mind communication. We weren't even aware of the concept until the Borg dragged us into their affairs.]]  
_  
Valerie's mindvoice added_, [[Kes, we aren't planning to 'scour the galaxy of all living things' anymore, and hopefully, we never will.]]  
  
[[You really **do** expect me to believe you!]]  
  
[[Yes, Missy, we do. You see, we found out the Borg are an anomaly, atypical of most other entities living here. What can we say to reassure you? Destroying every living thing in this galaxy seemed to be a good idea at the time. It doesn't now. But we need to be vigilant. There are other beings living in your dry space that none of us can trust, Fluidian and non-Fluidian alike.]]  
_  
Valerie added, _[[Jumping to conclusions can be one of the negatives of telepathy, don't you think? Whatever one feels about something at any given moment--especially strong emotions like anger or a thirst for vengeance--comes through unfiltered, blocking out anything and everything else. That's what you heard when you first encountered us seven years ago. It was a most unfortunate First Contact meeting, I'm afraid.]]_  
  
"Quite unfortunate," Kes muttered aloud through a tight smile. She didn't know what to believe. "Are you making any more attempts at First Contact here?" Kes had turned her head several times during exchanges which were the telepathic equivalent of shouting, to see if any of the other Ocampa within her line of sight could sense them. She didn't notice anyone else quivering even slightly. No one was looking around in annoyance while their most heated communications were going on.  
  
Kes didn't know if she should thank Tanis and Species 8472 for awakening her gifts or curse them for beginning her transformation into a being who had to leave _Voyager_ to avoid destroying it--leading inevitably to the time she had returned, full of vengeance. It was all as confusing as one of those temporal headaches Captain Janeway used to complain about.  
  
Kes thought she had kept these ruminations secret. From "Boothby's" next thought, however, she realized she had not.  
  
_[[Don't blame us for your own excesses, Missy. We may have been the trigger, but you had the ability inside of that powerful little mind of yours to do what you did. You were the easiest one on Voyager for us to communicate with when we needed to do a little saber-rattling, true. And we **were** angry. Furious. But once we realized there was no unanimity of life form in this type of space, and that Starfleet did not have a genuine alliance with the Borg, we also knew we didn't need to kill all life here to protect ourselves.]]  
  
[[The Federation and Starfleet seem not be our enemies after all,]]_ Valerie mused, _[[but we can't take our safety for granted anymore. I guess we should thank the Borg for that lesson.]]  
_  
"You're here to spy on us, then?" Kes said aloud.  
  
"That's another word for it, yes," Valerie replied aloud. "Now that we understand what 'the stakes are' if we're caught unawares again, we maintain a surveillance presence in your space--but not an invasion force. I guess you could call it a cultural exchange program of sorts, too." Valerie leaned forward and whispered to Kes, "I've learned having a body like this has its enjoyable features. Kissing is rather nice, for example. Commander Chakotay is quite a good kisser."  
  
"You kissed Chakotay? Where? When? Why?" Kes had to force herself to lower her voice on the last three questions, since several people at nearby tables turned to look at her when the first question screeched out of her. Kes wondered if they were extremely good at hiding their ability to receive telepathic messages or if most Ocampa really didn't have the talents that Tanis had claimed that they did.  
  
"Archer, stop gloating about that kiss. You won't be getting them from him anymore. He's busy kissing someone else now."  
  
"Oh, I know. Even when we kissed, it was a friendly 'exploration of the humanoid body experience' type of kiss, nothing more." From the look that crossed Archer's face at that moment, however, Kes decided she wouldn't have minded a few more explorations of a similar nature.  
  
Boothby leaned over towards Kes and said softly, "I know you don't trust us. I can't say we completely trust you people, either. But thanks to Janeway and her crew, the centralized power of the Borg has been smashed for the foreseeable future, so we're in a more trusting mood, shall we say. We know we aren't on opposite sides, the way we used to think. We're ready to take a chance on some of you, too. Since we _do_ bear some responsibility for your mental changes, maybe we owe you and your people a little of our help because of it."  
  
"Do you think you're having an effect on the other Ocampa on this station?" Kes glanced around again but still saw no one who was visibly reacting to their conversations, verbal or telepathic.  
  
Valerie responded silently, _[[We don't believe so. The other Ocampa are continuing their evolution, but none of them here are as far along as you are. We forced contact with you, so you can sense us. Without that Suspiria life form around to lead them on, most of the ones who have the ability aren't developing it as quickly as they did before she...expired. They'll need an outside push from someone.]]  
  
[['Push from someone!']] _Kes suddenly leaned back in her chair as she made the connection, which she immediately knew was accurate. _[[**You're** the ones who have been listening in when I communicate with Tuvok.!]]_  
  
"What kind of spies would we be if we didn't keep an eye on things every way we could?" Valerie said, leaning back in her own chair. "Isn't that what you're trying to do when you contact Tuvok? And speaking of 'pushing,' what about that psycho-tele-kinetic thing you did when _Voyager_ was about to crash?"  
  
"You knew I did that? It did help protect them a little bit, didn't it?" Kes asked, suddenly wondering if that "push," too, mightn't have had a little help from another direction, one she hadn't detected at the time.  
  
"They did crash, but it wasn't fatal. They got their ship back home. I think it's safe to say you helped." Boothby folded his arms in front of his chest, a smug expression on his face, giving Kes the distinct impression he could say more but wouldn't, just to tease her.  
  
He could probably say a great deal more.  
  
_[[You're right, I could, but I'm not. You've had enough to bounce around in that pretty head of yours already, Missy. We accomplished what we wanted today. We needed to let you know we aren't the threat you think we are, even if you aren't ready to accept it yet. You will in time. That's enough for now.]]_  
  
The only thing he actually said was, "Waiter, bring me the check."  
  
  
**_Pel Clinic, Vidiia--September 23, 2380, Stardate 56728.1  
_**  
Denara slammed the door to her office deliberately: only the presence of her associate stopped her from throwing her file across the room. Dr. Krazel Lem jumped at the sound of her entrance. "How'd it go. Did they say yes? Will we get the funding?"  
  
"How do I know?" she said. "The meeting with their chief financial officer was canceled." _Again_, she thought to herself.  
  
"I'm sure they have their reasons."  
  
She shrugged. "They didn't tell me. The security guard just told me the meeting had been canceled. At least I made it as far as the reception area this time." She placed her files on her desk. "Thank you for covering for me this morning."  
  
"Anytime," Krazel said. "Just let me know when the next time will be."  
  
"There won't be a next time. Mupano's scientists can come here. They'll learn more by visiting the clinic in person anyway." She strove to calm herself. "Who's the next patient?"  
  
"Fanatta Kef. He looks good," Dr. Lem said. Denara smiled at her colleague's comment. Poor Fanatta was only sixteen, but he'd been hard hit by the Phage when he was seven.  
  
"I'll see him now." She took a second to compose her mind, then opened the door to the waiting room. "Hello, Fanatta, how you doing?" she asked the boy as they moved toward the examination room.  
  
He did look good. The scars along his forehead were definitely fading. She was pleased with the results he was getting from his treatments. He raised his left hand. "I can move my fingers now," he said, lisping slightly. That was another side effect of the devastation of the Phage--damaged jaw muscles that affected speech. Even that had improved over the past few months.  
  
"Excellent," she took the offered hand. "Show me." There was only a bit of movement in his left hand--but that was more than there had been just five months earlier. Fanatta's right hand had more mobility--enough that he'd been able to find work as a sewer worker. If he could have the full use of both hands, he might be able to find work elsewhere. Fanatta was very intelligent. He had so much potential, and he was a rarity amongst her clients--Fanatta could pay a small fee for her services.  
  
The boy's thrill at even such a tiny movement more than made up for her frustration. If only the Sodality could see and understand that thrill.  
  
"And the headaches?" Denara asked.  
  
"I still have them," Fanatta said quietly. "But I'm willing to suffer." He pulled his hand out from hers and wiggled his fingers slightly. "This makes the headaches bearable."  
  
She nodded. The drugs had some side effects, and the risk was greater if the patient had received organs from Kazon "donors." Unfortunately, many of her patients didn't know the source of their organs. "I'll have Dr. Lem fill this prescription. Let me know _IMMEDIATELY_ if the headaches worsen."  
  
Fanatta hugged her. "Thanks Doctor."  
  
Denara smiled as he ran out the door. Despite his difficult medical history, he was still a kid, loving his life. For his sake, and for that of everyone who came to her, she would keep trying to find funding for the clinic. Denara's patients had no other source of quality medical care. She had no choice; she had to find a way to keep it open, no matter how much she had to beg for funds.   
  
She couldn't live with herself if she didn't.  
  
  
**_Outside the Qizal-Corana system--September 24, 2380, Stardate 56269.8_**  
  
As she departed the Ocampa space station, Kes shivered. "Like someone just walked over my grave," she said aloud to herself, quoting something she'd heard _Voyager_ crew members say on multiple occasions. It was a common saying among humans. She remembered the first time she heard it, and how Neelix declared that humans were a "very morbid bunch, Sweeting," when she told him about it. The memory made her smile, quelling the shivering, but far too many of her memories still brought her pain and guilt. For this reason, Kes tried to live in the moment as often as she could.  
  
"This is a cheerful subject to think about," Kes said, again speaking to the empty shuttle. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Since I seem to want to hear myself talk, maybe I should record my feelings about this in a personal log. Just in case."  
  
_"Computer, begin personal log, Stardate...um, computer, supply the correct Stardate, please..."_ Kes stopped speaking and gathered her thoughts as the mellow computer voice complied with her request. She smiled to herself at her stumbling start. It had been a very long time since she'd dictated a personal log.  
  
Clearing her throat, Kes began again, _"Stardate 56269.8, personal log of Kes...of Ocampa...During my years on Voyager I went through many dangerous times, but they pale in comparison to what I endured after I left the Federation vessel. Eventually, I...I lost my way. The powers of the mind Tuvok helped me develop were magnified by my telepathic encounter with Species 8472. Unfortunately, this powerful mind of mine was not immune to suffering a psychotic break.  
  
"I cannot say enough about the many kindnesses shown me by Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew over the years, even when I came back intending to wreak havoc upon them. Fortunately, I came to my right senses in time, before I'd done irrevocable damage to those who had once been my friends. They listened to my sad story and even gave me one of their precious shuttles so I could return to Ocampa.  
  
"During the journey home I was completely alone, yet I healed myself. I guess a better way to say it is that I became my true self again. While innocence was gone forever, I accepted responsibility for my own actions and stopped blaming others for what I'd gone through after I left Voyager. It's strange to think I'd been wiser and more responsible when I first came on board than I was in the months immediately preceding my first departure from Voyager, but it's true. It was almost as if I really **did** live my life backwards, like in the timeline with Linnis--the lifetime that never happened.  
  
"What pains me most is to remember how I blamed Captain Janeway for the terrible things that happened to me after I left my home planet. How could I have done that? I'm the one who decided to climb to the surface of Ocampa, long before I even dreamed of such a thing as Voyager--long before I met Neelix. If anyone is at fault, it's me.  
  
"I owe so much to Neelix. I drove him to become part of Voyager's crew because I wanted to be part of it but didn't want to be the only native of this quadrant on the ship. And I pushed him away from me. I abandoned him months before I left Voyager. I still feel shame at the way I treated Neelix.  
  
"I've tried to make restitution for any wrongs I've done by becoming a better person and by doing things I feel need to be done. I hope I've managed it. I know I've done the best I knew how.  
  
"After I returned to Ocampa and saw how life had changed there, I realized the Ocampa were outgrowing the caverns. I knew I was the only one who could help, but I didn't offer to search for a new homeworld for a very long time. So many of my past actions had caused as many problems as they solved, I was afraid of doing something else just as disastrous. I only found my courage when I could anticipate the doom of my people, sooner rather than later, if I didn't act. How could I live on, knowing I could have saved them but had failed to do so out of fear?  
  
"Because I would have lived on, as a non-corporeal member of my race. I'd expected to have plenty of time, after I'd returned home, to teach my people how to develop their mental powers, the way Tuvok tutored me, and show my people the Morilogium was not the end of our mortal existence. It only marked a transition between the corporeal phase and the rest of our lives as non-corporeal beings, creatures of energy, who exist a much longer time, possibly for centuries. I don't think we're immortal. If we were, we wouldn't need to bring new generations of Ocampa into existence. But when the Caretaker called us 'children,' he wasn't very far wrong. An Ocampa exists for a long time after relinquishing the body we are allotted in this plane of existence--our 'childhood.' Of that, I'm certain.  
  
"To get to the point in our lives where we can move to the non-corporeal state, however, we must thrive as corporeal beings first. We cannot do that in our home planet. The subterranean chambers are becoming too crowded; resources are becoming too difficult to reach; and it will take too many centuries for the surface to be terraformed to the point it could be comfortable to live there again, even if we had the means to do it--and we don't. Perhaps I would have had time to teach this generation of Ocampa how to tap into the unrealized potential of their advanced mental powers, to prepare them for life as non-corporeal beings, but there would not be any future generations of Ocampa then. Over time, our people would become extinct. I can't allow that to happen.  
  
"So, though I risk making more mistakes in the attempt, I have undertaken this journey. And this time, I accept full responsibility for all my choices, bad ones as well as good. If this mission fails, it will be my fault, no one else's."  
  
_Kes hesitated, wondering what else she could add. A lot, probably. She had a hunch some of her thoughts should be edited out. She had rambled more than a little, trying to express what she felt. Perhaps she would record another log entry later. She'd certainly said enough for this one, but something nagged at her to say one more thing..._  
_  
"_End personal log!"_ Kes said suddenly, finally remembering to turn off the recorder. She laughed at herself. She wondered how long the computer would have continued documenting her breathing if she'd forgotten to turn it off!  
  
After she'd unburdened herself, Kes did feel somewhat better. Better, but the encounter with Species 8472--the Fluidians, she should call them-- was still disquieting.   
  
They'd said they had no intention of invading "non-fluidic" space again. Kes wanted to believe them. Mostly believed them. Or was she just being naïve? It was true the Borg had attacked their space first, but that didn't mean she could be certain they were trustworthy.  
  
She wished Captain Jixtan were here now so she could speak with him about this. Or maybe she should have tried harder to made room for both Lyrial and Josan to come along with her. There are more ways to contribute to a mission like this than piloting the shuttle. Having someone else to bounce ideas off of, for instance. Kes had never felt her solitude more keenly than she did now.  
  
Kes could add to the personal log she'd just dictated, of course, or maybe she should dictate an official log entry. She'd seldom done them, but she was sure she could remember how.  
  
Then it struck her: Whether or not the Fluidians presented a grave danger to the Federation, she needed to let someone there know what she knew. The Fluidians might intercept her communication, but she had to risk it. Perhaps they had told her the truth. They really weren't a danger. Maybe they wanted her to let Starfleet know they were still around, ready to protect themselves, but also willing to work with the Federation for mutual benefit. What else could she do, under the circumstances? Some decisions were too big for one person to make on her own.  
  
Kes checked the sensors, making sure no debris fields or other obstacles would be in her way to force a change of direction once she set her course. Dictating her log had not required her complete attention. She could navigate the shuttle while she spoke to the computer. This was different. Kes would need to concentrate all of the powers of her mind to reach across the galaxy to contact Tuvok once again. To send news to the Federation, whether good or bad, she could not yet tell.  
  
  
**_ShahKar, Vulcan--May 4, 2380, Stardate 56341.2_**  
  
He woke suddenly. At first, he thought T'Pel had spoken aloud; but when he glanced at her, he saw her eyes were closed. He could hear her breathing and barely saw, in the dim light of pre-dawn, her chest rising and falling in the even rhythm of a sound sleeper.  
  
Perhaps he'd made a slight movement or sound as he studied his slumbering wife, or her sleep may have been invaded by a dream. Tuvok did not know what had caused it, but he could see the result. T'Pel's repose was disturbed in some way. She rolled upon her side and nestled her head against Tuvok's body.  
  
As soon as his wife touched him Tuvok sensed it again, like a cry for help heard from so far away, only the barest touch of sound brushed against the eardrums; so soft, it could be mistaken for the moan of the wind. Since he could be sure, this time, that his auditory sense had not been engaged, he recognized it for what it was: another communication from Kes, from the other side of the galaxy.  
  
Tuvok forced himself to relax into a meditative state. In the darkness of the sleeping chamber, with T'Pel curled warmly at his side, he needed no lamp to open his thoughts to his Ocampa protégée. Images swirled into his mind.  
  
The first was of a being twice-familiar to Tuvok. He had been well-acquainted with the real Boothby from his years at Starfleet Academy, but he had also met Boothby's Species 8472 double. Since this Boothby's image bore the elfin ears of an Ocampa, Tuvok had no doubt at all exactly whom--or rather what--Kes was showing him. To his knowledge, Boothby was human and had never traveled through the Delta Quadrant. The probability Kes would send the real Boothby's image to Tuvok now was beyond credulity, particularly since Tuvok had attended the revered groundskeeper's memorial service at Starfleet Academy, a few weeks after _Voyager's_ return to Earth. The second image, that of an Ocampa version of Valerie Archer, confirmed Tuvok's deduction.  
  
He could sense how profoundly disturbed Kes was by her encounter with these beings, members of the race which had once let her know they wished to destroy all life in the Milky Way Galaxy. She might think they still did. Tuvok would have reassured her if he could, but in conscience he could not. He preferred to believe they meant no harm. _Voyager's_ last meeting with them, at Species 8472's replica of Starfleet Academy, had been transformed into a sort of First Contact mission. Their parting had been relatively cordial, but that didn't mean all differences between the species and those who lived in non-fluidic space had been resolved.  
  
Tuvok tried to convey she should be diplomatic, but watchful and cautious. The feeling-of-connection disintegrated before he finished. And, like last time, there was what he could only describe as a sense of intrusion from another being. For a moment, Tuvok was disoriented, almost dizzy. Then he knew the darkened room, was aware of the bed beneath him, and felt the warmth of his wife's form stretched next to his. She was no longer asleep. Her raised head rested upon her hand, and her open eyes gazed into his.  
  
"It happened again," she said calmly. "Kes contacted you telepathically."  
  
"Yes. I cannot deny it, nor can I fail to report these incidents to Starfleet. This time, information that may be vital to the safety of the Federation has been communicated to me."  
  
"If the information is that critical, will you trust it to a subspace message or? Or do you wish to deliver it personally?"  
  
"I believe this news can wait long enough for me to journey to Earth, despite its importance. If I am there to convey it in person, it may receive a less skeptical reception."  
  
"An astute observation, my husband."  
  
"Since I do not believe I will find sleep again for many hours, we should begin our preparations to leave for Earth at once."  
  
"We?" T'Pel asked.  
  
Tuvok slid out of bed and grasped his wife's hand, pulling her to her feet. "I believe I have adequately explained my desire never to be separated from you again. Unless you have something more pressing which would prevent you from accompanying me..."  
  
"I cannot recall anything of such import. I will begin packing at once. You should arrange for our transport."  
  
As she swept gracefully out of the room, Tuvok was left to ponder how well his wife confronted the vicissitudes of life, with an equanimity which he had yet to completely master, despite years of intensive study.  
  
Life, as he had also frequently observed, was not fair.  
  
  
**_Outside the Qizal-Corana system--September 24, 2380, Stardate 56730.6_**  
  
Kes was startled by the sudden sensation of emptiness when the connection between Tuvok and herself broke. She knew she'd reached him, but she was unsure if her attempt to let him know about the Fluidians had gotten through. Kes hadn't received any answering images from him, as she had before.  
  
Now Kes had to decide upon her next heading. Should she proceed to one of the worlds Tanis had discussed with her? He had not been very encouraging about any of them. Or should she make her way to the one planet she dreaded to approach, yet which drew her irresistibly in its direction?  
  
From the beginning, Kes had refused to consider the Vidiian Sodality as a source of aid for her people; yet whenever she was reminded of them, something in her stirred. Since one of her past experiences with the Vidiians had resulted in Kes' donating one of her lungs to Neelix after they'd stolen both of his, revulsion was the emotion that predominated, although even that was tinged with pity. The Vidiians had done many terrible things in the name of survival, but Kes also knew how terribly the Vidiians had suffered, thanks to having met Denara Pel, the Vidiian physician and Phage-sufferer who had helped _Voyager_ rescue Captain Janeway and Chakotay from New Earth.  
  
Had Denara and her people really been cured? If so, why were they so seldom seen? Although feelings would naturally run high against the Vidiians among the other races, surely they would have made some attempts at reaching out if they were alive--wouldn't they? What if the cure had not been totally effective? And Denara Pel herself--was she still alive, or had the Phage killed her before a cure had been found? Assuming there had been a cure.  
  
As Kes reviewed all she'd learned about the Vidiians, she remembered something. If there was one thing she'd learned she must do,, it was to follow her instincts. Whenever that small voice whispered inside her brain, Kes had followed its lead, whether to triumph or disaster. This time, the voice was screaming in her mind, and it was telling her to go to Vidiia.  
  
She checked her instruments. The shuttle was flying smoothly under its own power. Kes set the navigation controls in the direction she felt compelled to follow and engaged the autopilot. She needed some sleep before she could give her little ship its customary push to speed it on its way at "Warp 9.99999."  
  
If she went to Vidiia, she would find the answers to some, if not all, of her questions. Since she knew the name of one person who might help her, Kes felt better about her chances for success. Kes devoutly hoped she could find Dr. Denara Pel. That Dr. Pel might be in a position to help Kes and the Ocampa in some way was probably too much to ask. Kes asked for it anyway.  
  



	6. Act 3

  
**Act Three**  
  
**_Pel Clinic, Vidiia_\--_October 15, 2380, Stardate 56788.3_  
**  
Denara leaned against the gray and peeling wall and let out a loud sigh. There was no one else in the small exam room to inquire what the problem was. The problem. She smiled sardonically at that thought. She would be happy if there was only one problem. She'd be happy if she could only name five problems.  
  
She opened her office door with a hard shove; the sound of it scraping the floor still caused her to cringe, even after six years of listening to it. She'd asked the landlord many times to fix it, but he never did. Dr. Krazel Lem was sitting at their front desk. He looked up, a look of concern on his heavily scarred face. "You look exhausted. You should go home," he said.  
  
"I can't. How many more?"  
  
"Too many. I hear that Dalar's clinic has sent their overflow patients to us again. Denara...Dr. Pel, I must insist. Please. At least take a half hour to rest?"  
  
She shook her head. She felt frustrated at the whole situation: the long days, the chronic shortage of funds; the lack of interest from her own government. She was trying to save her own people! She didn't bother to hide her bitterness. "They said it was a miracle. A cure for the Phage. Our people went wild in celebration. The treatment was distributed. We all believed the worst was over..."  
  
"Does it really matter? It worked," Dr. Lem said. "The last new Phage case was diagnosed five years ago."  
  
"Yes," she said with another loud sigh. "The Antiphagia worked." She ran her finger along the deepest of the many scars on her face. For her, the cure's arrival had been timely. She had been lucky. The treatment improvised by _Voyager's_ Doctor had slowed down the ravages of the Phage just long enough; she had not had to make the choice of dying or finding any more organ transplants to preserve her life.  
  
"The scars are superficial," Dr. Lem reminded her. His own face showed the ravages of the Phage and the several transplants he'd undergone.  
  
"Are they?" she asked. "We lived, but our people are now doomed to die anyway."  
  
He smiled. "Perhaps not. You aren't the only one looking for a treatment for the Antiphagia's side-effects. And maybe someone else is interested? Like maybe a large corporation? Mupano has responded to your letter, and this time, personally." He held up a thin packet.  
  
She reached for it, not sure whether to be hopeful or cynical. The clinic simply had to find a new source of funding. They would be forced to close soon without it. Many of her patients were too poor to pay any fees, and she couldn't turn them away. Any of them. Even those who'd had dozens or more transplants, or the Hanatta, who had been private organ collectors. At least the former Hanatta could afford to pay her.  
  
"Well? Aren't you going to read it?" Dr. Lem said.  
  
She opened it, and as she read the first paragraph, her heart leapt with tempered joy "Mupano Tar is willing to meet with me personally to discuss the clinic and our research." It was a short letter, but she believed in the basic decency of her people, and maybe in hope, too. "He says our work is too important to simply disappear." She smiled. "Krazel, it looks like I'll be late tomorrow morning."  
  
"We'll manage." His grin was lopsided, the two sides of his face needed major repair. He shared a common history with many of their patients--they also couldn't afford the massive costs for the reconstructive surgery.  
  
**_  
Mupano Industries offices, Vidiia--Stardate 56790.9, October 16, 2380  
_**  
"...I absolutely must have it by next week, at the latest...Uh-huh...Right...Look, I'm in a very important meeting now, and I'm due at another in just a few minutes. Get back to me on this in about two hours. I should be free to talk more about this then. Yes, very good. Talk to you then."  
  
As he switched off his hand-held communicator, Mupano Tar turned to his visitor with a sigh. "I'm so sorry, Dr. Pel. I don't know why my people feel they need my approval for every little detail when I've chosen them for their good judgment--and why they always seem to need the most guidance whenever I'm in a very important meeting! I'm very concerned about the tragic circumstances so many of our people find themselves in. I truly do want to help." He reached for the insulated teapot his secretary had brought in shortly after Denara's arrival.  
  
"Some Poaly tea?" Mupano Tar said as he poured a cup for himself. He glanced her way. She was still surprised at how healthy and how Vidiian he looked. She wondered if he was one of the small percentage who'd never been infected, or if he'd had reconstructive surgery. Considering the look of distaste from his secretary when she'd arrived--and the fact she'd only seen unscarred Vidiians in his office--she suspected he had never been infected. If she'd had her scanner with her, she could have easily found out. But such scans were considered a rude invasion of privacy--and considering her own status as a Phage victim, that could become rather embarrassing for her.  
  
"No, thank you," she said, with growing impatience. They had been interrupted five times in the past hour. From the way that last call had ended, Denara doubted she'd enjoy much more of the industrialist's time, and they had yet to get past the preliminary social niceties.  
  
While Mupano's attention had been snatched away from their meeting, Denara had plenty of time to look around her surroundings. His new office definitely indicated he could afford the surgery--if he'd even needed it. The collection of alien pottery and rugs alone was probably worth more than she'd see in her entire life. Her clinic was six years old and showing its age. Her patients paid by helping around the clinic--when they could. It had never been the efficient, clean environment she'd often dreamed of--like the Sickbay of _Voyager_. She smiled as she remembered Dr. Schmullis.  
  
"So, as you were saying about your research..."  
  
"I've been working on several fronts that are showing great promise, primarily with medications that will be able to successfully treat Antiphagia-related infertility, as well as provide affordable ways for the general public to be treated cosmetically. We've already developed injectable medications which reduce the amount of scar tissue around surgical incisions, as well as some which lighten or darken the skin so that the patchiness of..."  
  
Mupano's communication device buzzed. "I'm sorry, Dr. Pel," he said, as he turned away from her and began to speak to someone named Ronen Loa. Denara tried to rein in her frustration at still another break in their discussion, just when she was finally starting to become enthusiastic about their meeting. As desperately as she wanted financial support for her work, she was again beginning to doubt if becoming involved with one of the grand movers and shakers of Vidiian high society was a good idea. Mupano was well known for his charity and philanthropic pursuits. He had supported the research that was instrumental in developing the Antiphagia vaccine.  
  
When Mupano Tar finally turned back to her, apologizing profusely for still another interruption to their meeting, Denara waved her hand offhandedly, as she said, "I understand completely how busy you are, sir. I just wanted to give you the information you need to make your decision about the worthiness of my work so that I might qualify for a grant to further my research."  
  
"I have no doubt about the worthiness of your research, Dr. Pel. However, there are many others who are also requesting my financial assistance. I need to..."  
  
Mupano's console beeped. When he responded, Denara heard his officious secretary's voice. _"Commissioner Veldon is here for your meeting, sir. You asked me to let you know as soon as she arrived."_  
  
Mupano's eyes met Denara's apologetically as he replied, "Yes, of course. Please have her brought to the Onyx Conference Room. Tell her I'll be right there. I'm sorry, Dr. Pel. We're very interested in learning more about your research, but I have another meeting. My assistant, Dr. Lendar Klim will accompany you to your clinic. Thank you for your time. I hope we can do business." He left quickly. A second later the door opened again, and an unscarred Vidiian female entered. She grimaced at the sight of Denara, but Denara thought she covered it well.  
  
"Dr. Pel," Lendar said. "Mupano is sorry that he is unable to discuss your work personally in greater detail, but as head of Mupano Industry's Research and Development department, I am well qualified to ascertain the usefulness of your work."  
  
"Usefulness?" Denara said as the transporter beam started to dematerialize them. Usefulness?  
  
"My work..." Denara continued after they'd rematerialized in her clinic. She spoke quickly to hide her irritation, "...my work is very useful." She pointed toward the patients sitting in the waiting room. Dr. Klim barely glanced at them.  
  
"Of course. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Mupano always looks for the bigger picture, however. Like, what are the collateral benefits of your research?"  
  
"Collateral benefits?" Denara glanced around. "See that boy over there?" She pointed at a sixteen year old. "I've been able to restore much of his epithelial tissues. A young man at the beginning of his life is feeling more confident in himself. He's starting to feel he will be able to contribute to society and is choosing his life's work. Isn't that a 'collateral' benefit?' " When Dr. Klim didn't bother to hide her pained look of disgust, Denara gave up trying to control her anger. "I thought my goal of restoring our people to their natural looks and restoring their fertility were important goals for _all_ our people."  
  
"I must not have made myself clear. While there's no money in treating patients, Mupano does want to help. After all, having well over fifty percent of the population unable to reproduce is bad for business. No consumer growth potential." Dr. Klim tittered at her own joke. Denara politely smiled at this awful attempt at humor. Dr. Klim was overdoing the sales speech, but she was interested in hearing more about the funding. "But the money to support philanthropic efforts must come from somewhere, thus our interest in the practical--or rather, the financial--aspects of your research. I would like to arrange a time when you aren't so busy to go over your work."  
  
Denara hesitated. She wanted more information before committing to anything. "I'm never not busy, but I can clear some time for you. Tomorrow afternoon? I'd like to know more about how you are planning to help."  
  
"We can discuss that the day after tomorrow in my office. From the information you already sent us, and what I've seen, I think we can make arrangements that will be mutually advantageous."  
  
"Mutually advantageous?" Denara didn't like the sound of the those words.  
  
Dr. Klim's perfect smile stretched across her perfectly unblemished face. "If we can develop some additional products from your research to sell at a profit, we can make enough extra so you can afford a few luxuries with your share of the sales! That never hurts now, does it? So, I look forward to our talk. Good afternoon."  
  
"I'm not sure..." Before Denara could finish her sentence, Dr. Klim disappeared without a backward glance as a transporter beam whisked her away.  
  
Denara had spent years struggling to maintain her integrity and principles in a society that had lost theirs. This reminder of how most Vidiians acted was painful. "Nothing at all has changed," she whispered to herself.  
  
Dr. Lem came out of the doorway leading to the examination rooms and walked over to Denara. In a low voice, to keep those waiting for their appointments from hearing him, he asked, "What happened? Is Mupano interested in funding the clinic?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. If they're willing to fund the clinic and our research, should I be put off because they seem to have a more pragmatic agenda? They want to make money from our work. A LOT of money. I shouldn't complain, I guess, if it means they'll be able to fund other worthy projects as well as ours--and still have enough to make themselves even filthier rich than they already are."  
  
"The world is changing, Doctor. We may have to get used to it."  
  
"And what if I don't like what it's becoming?"  
  
Krazel had no answer for that. As he turned to leave, he paused. "Oh! Some stranger was looking for you."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Some old woman. She didn't leave her name. Alien. She knew your name though."  
  
"Alien?" Denara frowned. She had no idea why an alien would be looking for her. She shrugged it off. "Go to lunch, Krazel. I can handle this."  
  
  
**_Meyel District, Vidalia, Vidiia_\--_October 18, 2380, Stardate 56796.4_  
**  
Denara Pel sat down at the desk in her home office and activated her computer terminal. The numbers that appeared were depressing. She had not entered medicine to make money--but the clinic was barely breaking even. She'd have to get a second job--if she could find one--to pay the bills. She debated making her evening meal before tackling the bills; but knew that if she did, she would fall asleep; and the work would still be there in the morning.  
  
If Mupano financed her clinic, she wouldn't have to worry about the bills. She could hire another clinician and up-date her equipment. It was a heady dream, one that had always been impossible to achieve...until now.  
  
So, Mupano wanted to make money--was that so bad? She would like to make a little money, move into a better apartment, take a vacation. Her last vacation--if it could be called a vacation--had been those few days on _Voyager_.  
  
Her thoughts wandered to Dr. Schmullis and _Voyager_. She'd heard that Kazon pirates had captured _Voyager_, but the crew had managed to reclaim their vessel. That had been seven or eight years ago. Too long ago. Since then, she'd not heard anything about the Starfleet ship. She silently wished them well and started the process to choose the bills she would pay first. It wasn't easy. The energy bill was overdue. They were threatening to cut the power to the clinic again. She needed to request the Sodality grant her clinic an exemption. She sighed. The Vantar Pharmaceutical bill was due now. And the rent on the clinic was, too. She'd be more inclined to pay the latter if the landlord had agreed to finish fixing that finicky door.  
  
She'd picked the energy and pharmaceutical bills as the priorities to be paid immediately when the lights flickered. She swore silently. Power outages were a too-frequent occurrence nowadays. That was something she would add to her list of things to do with Mupano's money--an independent power supply for the clinic.  
  
She continued working. The lights flickered again. She opted to shut down her computer and make dinner before the power went out for the night. She had just come to her feet when a knock at the door caused her to freeze.  
  
No one called at night in this neighborhood. If, or rather, when the power went out, anyone outside was a potential victim. Even those who were supposed to protect the citizens stayed indoors at night.  
  
Only a real emergency would send someone out to the streets at this time of night. Since she couldn't afford to be included in the communication network, the only way for her patients to summon her for a late night emergency was to find her. Reluctantly, she went to her door and called out, "Who's there?"  
  
"Is this the home of Dr. Denara Pel?" a faint voice said. Denara wasn't sure if she recognized the voice or not; it did seem somewhat familiar. She opened her door.  
  
"Yes, I'm Dr. Pel. May I help you?" Denara asked the heavily cloaked figure.  
  
There was a faint laugh, as the woman revealed her face. She was Ocampa. Denara had only met one Ocampa in her entire life. She stared at the woman for several seconds before she was able to ask, "Kes?"  
  
"You remember me," Kes said, breaking into a smile.  
  
Denara wanted to ask her visitor a lot of questions, but a quick glance around the dim streets reminded her that outside was too dangerous. "Come in, Kes. Why are you here? And HOW did you get here?" she asked, the questions coming out in a long string. "Is _Voyager_ here too?"  
  
"No, it's just me. My story is too long to go into in detail right now. Perhaps it's even a bit unbelievable. For right now, let me just say I'm here, and I need your help."  
  
Denara wished she had more light to study her guest. Kes was much older than she remembered. She vaguely remembered something Doctor Schmullis had said that the Ocampa had a short lifespan. "How can I help you?" Denara asked after a long silence. She offered to take Kes' cloak. Once Kes removed the cloak, Denara was amazed at just how old the other seemed.  
  
"I know the Doctor told you some of the story about how _Voyager_ ended up on the wrong side of the galaxy."  
  
"Captain Janeway destroyed their only way home to save your people from disaster."  
  
Kes nodded once. "I left _Voyager_ a little over a year after our last contact with you. Eventually, I made my way back to my people. They're alive--but what the Caretaker left for us in terms of resources is fast running out. We must find a new home."  
  
Denara shook her head. "Vidiia doesn't have much to offer your people. You can see for yourself what it's like out there. My people are unable to help themselves." She growled slightly, but didn't add what she was thinking: _unless there's money to be made._  
  
"I'd heard you found a cure for the Phage," Kes frowned, "but until I arrived I had no idea just what that meant." She hesitated. "I've been traveling all through this sector, looking for a planet where my people can settle--and live above ground, for a change. I heard from several people that the Vidiians might have a world that would suit us. But maybe this was a mistake."  
  
"Your informants aren't wrong. The Vidiian Sodality controls a number of planets we have no use for at present. You can ask, but..." Denara didn't hold out much hope for the cooperation of the Sodality.  
  
"I'm sure they wouldn't just give us a planet without any strings attached. They'll want something in return." Again Kes hesitated. "My people have little to give in return, other than a presence on some uninhabited planet to help you maintain your claim against the other species in this sector."  
  
"I don't know if that would be enough, but the Sodality doesn't want to lose control of any of our territory." The thought made Denara furious. "They continue to fund our military forces to guard our territories but cut funding for saving our people when they're suffering from..." Denara stopped herself from completing her thought. The fertility problems of their populace were not common knowledge anywhere other than on Vidiia. While she remembered Kes as being a sympathetic listener, it was not Denara's place to inform her of this. Regaining her temper, Denara chose to change the subject. "Did you have a particular planet in mind?"  
  
Kes pulled out a chart and pointed. Denara glanced at it and frowned. "It's definitely uninhabited. Anyone who settles there would have to undergo a complete vaccination routine." She didn't add that she doubted the Vidiian Sodality would fund such a program.  
  
"I understand. We had to leave the captain and commander there because of that virus. The serum you gave us cured them. I'm sure we can prepare a vaccine from the serum to prevent the infection, too." Kes smiled. For the brief second, Denara really recognized the waif like woman she'd known on _Voyager_. "I remember the Doctor's research. We can take care of developing and administering the vaccine."  
  
Denara smiled. "I'm glad. But I no longer have access to such things. I'm just a lowly Phage-victim." She muttered the last line to herself, but the way Kes glanced at her, she suspected the Ocampa woman had heard her.  
  
"I hope you didn't get in too much trouble."  
  
Denara laughed bitterly. "The captain didn't even notice. He was so fixated on capturing _Voyager_, he forgot honor..." Again, Denara stopped short of saying what she was about to say. The Phage had destroyed her people. Perhaps the side effects of the Antiphagia was a cynical justice. "Do you know what happened to _Voyager_?"  
  
"They made it home just recently," Kes said. Denara smiled.  
  
_Good_, she thought. _Those people deserved it._  
  
As the shock of seeing Kes starting to wear off, Denara remembered her manners and asked, "Would you care for anything to eat?"  
  
"I'm fine. I have plenty of food on my little ship. But don't let me stop you from preparing your own dinner."  
  
Denara wanted to ask her visitor more questions, but she suspected there was much Kes hadn't told her--and probably wouldn't, even though she was smiling benignly.  
  
Denara worked silently for several minutes to prepare the boiled Tiluga. Kes sat in Denara's one easy chair, apparently meditating. After a long silence, Kes said, "Dr. Pel, I wonder, do you know of someone with connections? Someone who can help us? I'm willing to approach a Sodality council member, if you know of anyone..."  
  
"I don't know anyone who can help you," Denara replied. "The only one in government who ever actually did anything for me was Councilor Drin, but he's retired and moved away from the city. During our last meeting, when he told me my research would no longer be funded by the government, I realized then he didn't have enough influence with the real powers-that-be to help me anymore."  
  
Kes sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that..."  
  
"Wait," Denara interrupted, "Perhaps I do..." She wasn't sure she liked the idea. Mupano would probably want more than the Sodality would for his help, but this was undoubtedly the only chance Kes had. Tentatively, Denara added, "Maybe I do know someone. Mupano Tar is a prominent industrialist and philanthropist. I've been in negotiations with him recently about funding my research."  
  
"You don't like the idea," Kes said softly. "Or don't you like him?"  
  
Denara thought about her answer. "He's a business man. His interest is in profit; mine is in helping my people. It's clear to me he wants to use my research to make a profit."  
  
"If he is willing to help you," Kes said, "perhaps he has more heart than you give him credit for. He'll want something from us in return, won't he?"  
  
Denara nodded several times as she stirred the Tiluga. "Oh, yes, he definitely will."  
  
"A new market?" Kes asked. "As colonists on a Vidiian planet, we would be buying and trading for Vidiian goods. And perhaps after we've establish our colony, we could export food or other resources to Vidiia."  
  
"I don't know. Mupano might accept that rationale, but that would be a long term benefit. He'll also want a more immediate reward."  
  
Kes looked away. "I might have something to offer," she whispered, "as a last resort."  
  
"I'm meeting with his assistant the day after tomorrow, I'll ask her if we can meet with Mupano."  
  
_  
**Mupano Industries office, Vidiia-- Stardate 56801.3, October 20, 2380**_  
  
"I'm sorry, your name again?" Dr. Lendar Klim had said, with a slight curl of the lip and more than a hint of distaste in her voice.  
  
"I'm Kes." From that point onward, Dr. Klim had ignored her. Kes couldn't help feeling sorry for Denara. There was no excuse for such rudeness. She decided she also felt sorry for most of the people of Vidiia, if this is how the Phage victims are treated by their own kind. She knew only too well how outsiders felt about the Vidiians.  
  
Kes took advantage of being ignored by meditating. She had decisions to make--like just what could she or the Ocampa offer the Vidiians in exchange for a planet and their help? She had some ideas, but after listening to Klim speak down to Denara, she wasn't sure these were the people to help the Ocampa. If Klim represented the general attitude of Mupano Industries, then maybe she should go elsewhere.  
  
Except there was nowhere else to go. So, whatever she offered would have to be _worthwhile._ Her own abilities were definitely _worthwhile,_ but she would not care to let anyone on Vidiia know about her skills unless it was absolutely necessary. That left the paragithium. She looked up, wondering how Denara could sound so calm in the face of the insolent attitude oozing from this Dr. Klim.  
  
"All companies need profit," Dr. Klim was saying. "Without the prospect of profits there is nothing we can do..."  
  
Kes closed her eyes. Klim sounded so...Ferengi. She managed not to chuckle at the sudden memory of the two Ferengi who'd fallen through an unstable wormhole and landed on a planet in the Delta Quadrant--a planet whose inhabitants had mistaken them for gods. The two Ferengi had merrily fleeced their unsophisticated worshippers until Captain Janeway had intervened. It would be amusing to introduce them to this Dr. Klim. She wondered which of them could use the word "profit" the most number of times in a single conversation.  
  
She opened her eyes again. Denara was speaking. "Thank you for taking the time to discuss this. I look forward to hearing from you soon."  
  
"I will recommend that we fund your research, Dr. Pel. You are well organized, despite your circumstances, and your research has met our standards. I also believe that the benefits to you and to Mupano Industries will be substantial. And your friend?"  
  
"Kes. Yes, she would like to speak with Mr. Tar..."  
  
"Ahhh." Klim glanced at Kes. "Mr. Tar is a very busy man; he doesn't have time for trivial things."  
  
Kes kept her temper. "I can assure you, Dr. Klim, that I do not wish to speak about anything trivial. I understand very well that I must make helping my people worth his while. In fact, I believe our discussions will be much more than just 'worth his while.' " She had to offer something at this point. "Would a way to improve energy supplies be of interest?"  
  
She was pleased with Klim's reaction. Good.  
  
"I'll speak to Mupano about it." Klim turned to face Denara. "Good day. To you both."  
  
When Dr. Klim was gone, Kes and Denara were escorted out of the meeting room in a very efficient manner. Kes did not feel inclined to say much more than Denara did--which was to say, nothing. Denara's only utterance was a big sigh that seemed like one of relief. Kes wondered if it was relief that Denara didn't have to be polite to Dr. Klim when the latter was behaving so rudely.  
  
Once the two had been hustled out the door and were well down the street, Denara finally broke her silence. "I must apologize for how that meeting went, Kes. She shouldn't have ignored you like that."  
  
"Why? The clinic is getting the support it needs. You don't need to apologize for this Dr. Klim's obnoxious way of telling us good news. You aren't responsible for any actions but your own."  
  
"Maybe, but I brought you with me, even though I always feel so uncomfortable around her. Dr. Klim is knowledgeable, I must admit; but providing treatments for Phage victims is being totally overlooked in favor of 'profit.' I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to hear that word again without cringing!"  
  
"That attitude isn't unknown elsewhere, you know," Kes said. "In fact, there's one race from the Alpha Quadrant whose entire culture is based upon profit. I met a couple of them once. Profit was just about the only thing they ever talked about."  
  
"Were they crew members on _Voyager_? I can't recall anyone like that when I was with Schmullis," Denara said incredulously.  
  
"No, the two I'm talking about were only in the Delta Quadrant by accident. It's a long story, and a funny one, but I think I need to go back to the clinic now and rest a while, or I'll never be able to tell you the whole thing!"  
  
"I understand totally," Denara laughed. "I'd like to take a long nap myself--but not until after a nice long shower. I'd want to feel clean again first."  
  
Kes studied her companion's face. Even the scar tissue masking her face couldn't hide the fatigue Denara tried so hard to conceal. "You work too hard, you know."  
  
"Thank you, Kes, but I have to. They need me."  
  
"I understand," Kes said, feeling an even stronger kinship with Denara than she had before. After all, Kes was here on Vidiia because her own people needed her. She started to say good-bye, then reached out both of her hands to give Denara's a squeeze. From the first time they'd spoken together on _Voyager, t_he Vidiian physician had struck Kes as a good person. Kes consciously tried to pass along a little of her own strength to Denara. The good doctor needed it.

  
  
**_Pel Clinic, Vidiia_\--_October 2o, 2380, Stardate 56801.9  
_**  
"Well?" Dr. Lem asked.  
  
"She's recommending that Mupano fund our research," Denara said. Her voice was neutral.  
  
"That's great," Krazel said. "When do we get the money?"  
  
"I'll hear later today. I'm meeting with Mupano late this afternoon." She looked around. "I suppose we could start figuring out what we need first."  
  
"Where do we begin? How about a new building?"  
  
"That might be a good idea," Denara agreed. "Except none in this area are in better shape than this one, and I don't want to move away from my patients."  
  
Krazel frowned. "We could hire some additional staff. Your friend is very good with the patients. Are you sure she's not a doctor?"  
  
"She was trained by one of the finest physicians I ever met, but she's not a doctor."  
  
"Ahh. Well, Kes is wonderful. Frindap smiled today while he was with her. I haven't seen him smile for two years. Are you sure she won't stay?"  
  
"I wish she would, too, but...she's here on behalf of her own people."  
  
"And neither of you will tell me anything more right now." Krazel shook his head. "I can't say I understand why you can't confide in me, but I'm sure you'll tell me eventually." He paused and studied Denara for a moment. "You should eat. Kes told me to remind you."  
  
"I'll eat. I promise. You'll be okay by yourself this afternoon?"  
  
"I'll manage, even if I survive by thinking about all the help we'll be able to afford soon."  
  
"Don't start getting grandiose ideas. We haven't had the grant approved."  
  
"Not _yet_," Krazel said. "Mupano is too intelligent a businessman to refuse you."  
  
That's what she was afraid of, Mupano's interests were too focused on immediate results for the least amount of cost. Research did not follow time schedules or budgets. "I hope so." Denara picked up the file off her desk. "Well, back to work."  
  
  
**_Mupano Industries, Vidiia_\--_October 21, 2380, Stardate 56804.1_**  
  
"Welcome Dr. Pel. And you must be Kes, the representative of the Ocampa?" Mupano asked. Denara wondered at his need to ask such an obvious question. Who else would she be?  
  
"Yes," Kes replied. "I'm representing my people."  
  
Mupano blinked. "I thought..." He waved a hand as if to wipe out his thought. "We'd heard the Ocampa had been destroyed. It's good to see those rumors are unfounded."  
  
"There is an element of truth, sir," Kes said. "Our homeworld cannot support our growing population. We're looking for a new planet."  
  
"I see." He glanced at Denara with narrowed eyes. He returned his attention to Kes. "And you were hoping that I would sponsor your request to the Sodality?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Kes replied. "My people understand that while we don't have much to offer the Vidiian government, we can't expect such a request to be granted with nothing in exchange."  
  
"And what might that be?"  
  
Denara smiled to herself as she quietly watched the exchange. Kes had Mupano's attention--yet she wondered just what the Ocampa could offer.  
  
"When the Caretaker died, he made sure my people would survive. One way was with..." Kes hesitated, "...a way to enhance our limited power supplies." Denara noted the pause in Kes's sentence. The Ocampa was very astute--she didn't mention exactly what her people could offer, just a hint about what it could do.  
  
Mupano lifted an eyebrow. _He's interested,_ Denara noticed. _Good._  
  
"And this method? I would like to have my scientists examine it."  
  
Kes laughed--a beautiful melodic sound. "Sir, I don't have it with me, but I would be willing to share _part_ of what I know. Just enough to show that what we have is real."  
  
Kes didn't need to say, "but not enough that you could duplicate it without our help." Denara was also interested. Such a device could help power her clinic. Kes glanced at her and nodded once. Very quickly. Mupano didn't seem to notice.  
  
"I'll contact Dr. Klim." He glanced at Denara. "Will Kes be staying with you?"  
  
"Yes, she will," Denara said.  
  
"Good. I'll contact you when the Sodality notifies me when they want to meet with you." He smiled. "I'm pleased to meet you, Kes. I hope we will be able to do business together." Turning to Denara, said, "And Dr. Pel, I'm sure you want to hear what we have to offer you. Dr. Klim has recommended we fund your research. Therefore, I have arranged for twenty-thousand Dremaa to be transferred into your clinic account. Lendar will handle all the paperwork."  
  
"Thank you so much," Denara said. Even though it was the expected thing for her to say, she really was very grateful. Twenty-thousand Dremaa would pay all of the clinic's outstanding bills, with enough left over to purchase supplies for her research activities. Perhaps working with Mupano Industries would not be as difficult as she'd anticipated.  
  
Mupano knelt by a cupboard and pulled out a decanter of purplish liquid. "May I propose a toast? Spindo brandy." He poured three glasses and handed them out. "To a better future for all our people."  
  
Denara agreed quietly as she drank the warm liquid. Such a drink was so outside her budget, she'd never even tasted it before. She could understand why someone would pay approximately two years of Denara's income for a small bottle. Spindo Brandy was marvelous.  
  
_  
  
  
_**_Vidiian Sodality Offices, Vidiia--October 22, 2380, Stardate 56807.3_**_  
_  
Chimeral Dop, President of the Vidiian Sodality, stood when Kes and Denara entered his office. "Welcome to my office," he said with a small bow. "And congratulations, Dr. Pel. I understand Mupano Tar has agreed to sponsor your research. Research that, I trust, will help all Vidiians."  
  
"Thank you, sir," Denara said, biting off the bitter retort that she'd only had to go begging for money when the Sodality had cut her funding. Dop was a Phage victim. His reconstructive surgery was very good, but there were little things she noticed that gave him away--like the small scars around the eyes, and a slight puckering at either side of his forehead where the replacement tissue had to be stretched to fit the expanse of his broad brow.  
  
Chimeral Dop turned his attention to Kes. "Mupano Tar has told me of your situation. I have discussed the matter with my fellow delegates. There are--" he motioned for them to sit, "--many difficulties with your proposal. The planet you requested, while not inhabitable at this present time, is still of interest to the Sodality."  
  
"Yes sir," Kes replied. "I realize that. However, the presence of the Ocampa colony would further the Vidiian claim to the planet. My people are capable of developing a vaccine to protect people from the virus that plagues the planet. We'll only need viral cultures or serum to complete the task."  
  
He nodded. "I'm glad you understand our reluctance. But there are other problems: recently, the Kazon and Haakonians have been seen in that sector. If they knew there was a cure for that virus, they would attempt to conquer you, if only because they can. There are others who could become involved, such as the Krowtonan Guard. And there are rumors of another species from some sort of parallel space. If your people settled there with our consent, we would be honor-bound to protect your colony. Our security forces are stretched rather thin right now. I'm afraid you are asking too much of the Sodality. We cannot take such a risk--and we are reluctant to announce to the other species that there is a cure."  
  
Chimeral hesitated. "And there are several delegates who would refuse your request simply because of your prior connection to _Voyager,_ even though you cannot have any contact with them at this point. They must have been destroyed by now." He mumbled the last sentence, but Denara was certain he meant for them to hear his comment.  
  
"No, sir, they made it home," Kes said softly. Denara hoped Kes would explain more of how she knew this.  
  
He stared at her. "And how do you know this? Their home is on the other side of the galaxy."  
  
"I have limited contact with them," Kes said. "Telepathically."  
  
Chimeral laughed. Kes hadn't admitted this to Denara, but Denara immediately realized Kes wasn't lying. This must be the part of the story she'd said was unbelievable.  
  
"I'm sorry," Chimeral said when he'd stopped laughing. "But the Sodality has voted..."  
  
"Sir, _Voyager_ represented the Federation. Do you know what that is?" Kes interrupted.  
  
Chimeral shrugged. "It's not important. The Sodality..."  
  
"The Federation is an organization of many worlds, species, cultures and ideas, united for the common good and protection of everyone. Imagine such an organization here."  
  
Chimeral started laughing again. "Kes, the political reality is simple. We are Vidiian. We have few allies in this sector."  
  
"I can contact the Federation..."  
  
"No," Chimeral said. "We would need to speak with them directly--not through a biased medium." Clearly, he did not believe that Kes could actually contact someone over 70,000 light years away. There was a second of silence, then Chimeral stood. "I regret not being able to help you."  
  
"Would you reconsider if you _could_ talk to them?" Kes asked. For the first time Denara heard a hint of desperation in Kes' voice.  
  
Chimeral laughed again. "If--and that's a pretty big if--I could talk to a representative of this Federation, I would consider it."  
  
"I'll arrange it." Kes bowed politely. "Thank you for your assistance, President Dop. I'll contact you when everything is ready."  
  
Denara controlled the urge to smile at the look of complete shock on the President's face. She didn't say anything to Kes until they were on the street.  
  
"Now what?" Denara asked. "I'm just sorry we can't help..."  
  
"Don't be sorry. This is exactly what I expected. Even you find my story hard to believe, but you still believe me, don't you, Denara? Come with me."  
  
  
**_Southern District, Vidalia, Vidiia --Stardate 56808.6--October 22, 2380_**_  
_  
Despite reassurances from Kes that they would be safe, Denara still looked around nervously as they stepped off the Vidalia Express, not far from the industrial wasteland that bordered the Vidalia's Southern District, Horspant. This place was notorious for its criminal element.  
  
"We'll be fine," Kes said reassuringly.  
  
"I hope your ship is still here," Denara whispered, afraid that someone might find them if she spoke louder. They'd been the only ones to get off the Express at this stop.  
  
"It is. This way." Kes smiled.  
  
"I'm surprised the security patrols let you land here. Didn't they even warn you about this place?"  
  
"Denara, they don't know my ship is here." Kes started walking faster, straight toward the graying wreck of some old factory. "The people who live here are desperate. They may have lost everything, but they leave me alone."  
  
"I tried to set up a clinic here," Denara whispered. "Just before the Antiphagia was found." She sighed. "After the government troops forced the treatment on them, they wanted nothing more to do with me."  
  
"They have learned to rely on themselves," Kes replied in an equally soft voice, "and they don't trust anyone. I've tried to make friends with some of the women." Kes glanced at her. "They are highly suspicious of strangers. Their emotional wounds go far beyond the Phage." She hesitated. "Denara, how was the cure found?"  
  
"There are rumors, but no one seems to know the exact details. For millennia, our only goal was finding the cure, but the best results were temporary. We made significant advances in medicine but at a horrific cost: organ harvesting became big business." Denara snorted in disgust. "Then one day the Sodality announced they had a cure--and all infected Vidiians were required to be treated. The uninfected were tested and treated if they were found to have any sign of the Phage. It was another year or so before we learned about the adverse reactions to the treatment. My people are dying by degrees," Denara snarled. "And the Sodality says it can't afford to keep us alive. Half of those who received the Antiphagia treatment are sterile."  
  
Kes shook her head sadly. "No wonder the people here are so angry."  
  
"There was always a bias against the victims. My own family threw me out when I became ill. I don't even know if any of them are still alive." She would have gone on, since talking helped distract her from the overwhelming smell of poor sanitation and other wastes. She was surprised at the lack of people about. Kes stopped and looked around. Denara wondered if she had also noticed the lack of people. "Something, or someone..."  
  
Denara froze at the tone of those words. Did Kes sense something wrong? When Kes didn't speak or move for an extended period, Denara asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
"N...nothing." Kes took a deep breath. "This way." She lead them toward a shed. Denara turned to look behind her, then blinked several times. Kes was no longer beside her. Then the door to the shed opened. "In here. It's still here," Kes called out.  
  
"What...Oh the ship." The shift to near darkness blinded her for a second. "It's from _Voyager_?"  
  
Kes nodded. "It's too long a story for me to tell right now, and it's not one I'm particularly proud of." She closed the door to the shed. "I'm going to try to contact Tuvok."  
  
Denara just nodded, wondering if perhaps she should offer to help. Since she wasn't telepathic, she couldn't even begin to think how she could help. Kes leaned against the shuttle. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Fine," Kes answered. The Ocampa woman looked around, like she wasn't sure exactly where she was. "That's strange."  
  
"What's strange? Maybe we should do this later?"  
  
"No, no. I'll be fine. Just a little dizzy." Kes placed a hand on Denara's shoulder. "I need you to stand guard. If anything happens--anything at all, wake me out of the trance."  
  
Denara wanted to ask more questions, but Kes had entered the shuttle.  
  
"Guard?" She looked at her hands. "I don't have a weapon. Just how am I going to defend us?"  
  
"Don't worry, just wake me," Kes said from the inside of the shuttle. "Relax."  
  
"Relax?" Denara brushed the worst of the dirt off a crate and sat down. She jumped at a scuffling sound. It was outside the shed. Probably a feral debarl, she thought. Packs of the loose animals were attracted to places like this. They were known to attack anything that moved.  
  
"It's not working," Kes said from the shuttle entrance. "I can't..." She collapsed. Denara flew to her side.  
  
"Kes?"  
  
"I'm more tired than I thought," she said as Denara helped her up.  
  
"Perhaps we should try again when you're rested?"  
  
"Perhaps..." The door to the shed rattled. Kes closed her eyes, Denara stepped back in fear. "Let him in," Kes said. "There's only one."  
  
"Who?" but she obeyed. An elderly, scar-covered Vidiian stood outside the door.  
  
"Hello Kes," he said as he entered. "And you must be Denara." Denara stared at him. She didn't recognize him. How had he known their names?  
  
It looked like Kes was forcing herself not to faint, Denara decided. It seemed to work. "He's what I call a Fluidian. They have the ability to change their shape."  
  
The Fluidian who looked Vidiian (Denara had no clue what a Fluidian was) chuckled, then held out his hand. "Kes, you'll have to let go of your inner self and just trust me."  
  
Denara watched in a state of even greater confusion as Kes, after several long seconds, reached out to take this Fluidian's (or whatever he was) hand. "What in the name of the Gods is going on?" she muttered when she was alone again. "Just who or what is a Fluidian, anyway?"  
  
  
  
  
**_San Francisco, Earth_\--_October 23, 2380, Stardate 56810.2_  
**  
He was where she expected him to be, the place where he went to escape the pressures created by the consulting work Admiral Paris had cajoled Tuvok into accepting. Despite decades of living among humans--as well as some species even more volatile, Tuvok required more time and solitude to complete his personal meditation routines before withdrawing with T'Pel to their bedchamber each night for their joint meditations. Alicia Paris' greenhouse had become his chosen spot for this time of contemplation.  
  
Twice since their evening meal, T'Pel had checked upon her husband's mood. Both times, the furrow slashing between Tuvok's brows while he stared at the orchid in his hand conveyed that it was not yet time to disturb him. The first day they'd arrived on Earth, Tuvok had purchased this orchid, along with three other specimens of differing species, to bring to Vulcan for his own collection. At the time, he'd anticipated their visit to Earth would last for a few days at most. Four weeks had already passed, and the date they would be able to return to Vulcan had yet to be announced.  
  
T'Pel was beginning to wonder if Tuvok's orchids had become permanent additions to Alicia Paris' greenhouse.  
  
Tuvok may have retired from active duty, but Starfleet had been unwilling to let him remain retired after he reported the images he had received from Kes. It would have been seen as an amazing coincidence if not for _Voyager's_ encounter with the Species 8472 training habitat versions of Commander Valerie Archer, an officer who was known to be missing in action at Wolf 359; and Starfleet Academy's late, much lamented head groundskeeper Boothby. Starfleet desperately needed to know what Species 8472 now intended. Admirals Hayes and Paris had asked Tuvok to stay on Earth, hoping one of these mysterious communication would occur around the watchful eyes of Project Pathfinder's staff. Since Tuvok understood how vital this information would be to the Federation's security, he consented to remain a guest of Admiral Paris. T'Pel, of course, stayed with him.  
  
When T'Pel went to the greenhouse on this occasion, his face was somber, but his brow was no longer furrowed. T'Pel called out softly, "Are you ready, my husband?"  
  
Tuvok looked up at his wife and nodded his head in assent. Slowly he arose, placed the orchid pot back on its hook, and followed her into the house proper. Ascending the stairs, they entered their room and lit the lamp without saying a word to one another. They had completed these tasks so many times in their lives, they had no need to direct each other to do them according to their preferences.  
  
When all was in readiness, Tuvok took his place at one side of a black-lacquered antique Japanese table, which was low and perfectly designed for their purposes, while T'Pel kneeled down at the other. Tuvok touched his fingertips together to form an upside-down "V" shape, but he did not meet T'Pel's steady gaze. Instead his eyes looked far past her, seeming to focus upon something outside of the room's window.  
  
"Tuvok? Is something wrong?"  
  
"I do not believe so, but I have experienced a...strange sensation for the past half hour. There is no other way to describe it."  
  
"Perhaps Kes is calling you from across the galaxy?"  
  
That caught his attention. Arching a skeptical eyebrow, Tuvok stared at his wife, who calmly returned his stare. "We shall now begin," he said.  
  
T'Pel gracefully bobbed her head slightly to acknowledge him and mirrored the position of his hands. Silently, T'Pel began to initiate their shared meditation ritual, her eyes fastened upon the steady flame of the lamp.  
  
Although their hands were very close to each other's and were not quite touching, T'Pel could almost follow the beating of his heart. That was very odd. It distracted her from what she was doing to a sufficient degree that T'Pel began to wonder if this was the strange sensation he had reported to her.  
  
Although they usually meditated in a parallel fashion for several minutes before touching each other and continuing the ritual together, T'Pel felt compelled instead to overlay his hands with her own at once. She surrendered to the impulse.  
  
And suddenly, though her eyes were wide open and she could observe Tuvok kneeling before her, she received a mental image so strong, she could almost see, superimposed over him, three other figures, shadowy, like images painted onto a dusty window. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the visions and gasped as she recognized two of the figures. One surely was Kes, looking much older than in the holographic representations Tuvok had shown her; the other closely resembled Boothby, the old groundskeeper from Starfleet Academy, who had helped her adjust to the ways of humankind when her husband had first been assigned to be an instructor there. T'Pel had attended his memorial service the previous year. The third figure appeared to be female, one who was badly disfigured by what appeared to be patchy scar tissue. Only then did T'Pel notice that the Boothby figure's face also appeared to be marred by scars.  
  
The mouth of the Kes figure never moved, but much to T'Pel's surprise, a mellow female voice sounded inside her head. _[[Tuvok! I'm so glad. I was about to give up.]]_  
  
_[[Kes? Where are you?]]  
_  
_[[I'm on Vidiia with Dr. Denara Pel and Theby Booth. I think you knew of him after I left Voyager.]]  
_  
T'Pel was not sure whether Tuvok was having more trouble controlling his emotions after they heard this then she was, but T'Pel knew she was not helping him at all, as she sometimes could. If a telepathic voice could "shake," Tuvok's was accomplishing it then. _[[You are making telepathic contact with me from Vidiia?]]  
  
[[Yes, I am. But I have help from 'Theby Booth.']]_ One of the images, the one that looked like Boothby, dipped his head in acknowledgment.  
  
_[[You are from the station constructed by the species from fluidic space?]] _Tuvok responded.  
  
A raspy human bass voice echoed inside T'Pel's head_. [[We have decided we like being called Fluidians, Commander. Congratulations on avoiding that Borg terminology.]]  
_  
Tuvok exhaled abruptly, then thought to his wife, _[[Get the admiral.]]_  
  
T'Pel jumped to her feet and hastened towards the door. As soon as she broke physical contact with Tuvok, the figures and voices disappeared. It was only when her husband grunted aloud, "I've lost contact," that she realized they had disappeared for him, too. She knelt down next to him, suppressing the sudden reaction of dismay that she sensed emanating from him as well as herself. She touched his shoulder to comfort him...and the figures and voices returned, as strongly as before.  
  
_[[Whatever you just did, Tuvok, don't do it again! I must talk to you. We need your help!]]_ Kes' head leaned forward in supplication.  
  
_[[What I did was stop touching T'Pel...and it is not the first time that I have sensed your thoughts when she was touching me, although never in so clear a way.]]  
  
[[That's because I'm here, helping the two of you communicate. I can't keep this up for long. We need to find another way to accomplish this. To get help from some of these Vidiians, Kes has to be able to really 'talk' to you. How good is that device your people from that Project Pathway developed?]]_  
  
T'Pel felt Tuvok's hand shake for a second. He brought himself under control and replied, _[[The Project Pathfinder device is very good, but not good enough at present to speak with anyone as far away as Vidiia. We would have mere seconds to communicate before the link would be severed. That could be sufficient, however, to send a compressed data stream of messages.]]_  
  
_[[Would this shuttle's comm system be able to receive such a transmission from you, Commander?]]  
  
[[I do not believe so...Theby Booth. It would not be powerful enough. The schematics for the Pathfinder communication system are in the shuttle's computer. You should remember how to download them, Kes. If you are there with Dr. Pel, may I assume you have access to someone on Vidiia who could help you recreate it, but on a larger, more powerful scale? That should be well within the capability of Vidiian technology.]]_  
  
T'Pel detected a ripple of the amusement she had noted in the past when Kes had communicated with Tuvok. This time, along with the telepathic thought, the vision of Kes moved her lips as they received_, [[Oh, yes, Denara has introduced me to some people who would be eager to review the plans to build a sophisticated communication device--and even more delighted to build one for us, as long as they were given the right to build more for themselves! And yes, I remember how to download.]]_ From the startled reaction of the image of the Vidiian next to her, Kes must have spoken aloud this time so that Denara Pel knew, for what must have been the first time, what they were projecting to each other across the galaxy.  
  
_[[As long as you receive something of an equivalent nature in return, to 'trade' for it.]] _Tuvok answered.  
  
_[[Commander, I'm getting tired. This communication must end.]] _The Boothby image seemed to waver a bit, looking like it was about to slip into another form, knobby, with the wrong number of appendages. Kes also suddenly looked weak and ancient, as if fatigue threatened to overwhelm her. _[[Commander, we're going to cut off now, before Kes collapses. We will contact you again, to let you know of our progress.]]  
  
[[Wait, let me see if the admiral is...]] _Tuvok ceased his attempt. The images had flickered away. Tuvok sighed. "I would like to know how Kes has been able to do what she has just done--and what that Species 8472--the 'Fluidian'--has done to help her. Plainly, that other consciousness we detected intruding into our past communications was this Boothby, or one of his people."  
  
"I would give much to have been able to reach Admiral Paris so that he could have been a part of this, too," T'Pel said.  
  
"I doubt he would have noted anything other than our acting somewhat strangely, as Dr. Pel must have done on Vidiia. But I need to report all we have learned from Kes to the admiral right now. I believe we will need to include Mr. Barclay in these discussions, since he has the most experience using the MIDAS Array in...unique circumstances."  
  
"I understand, my husband. I will be here, practicing mental disciplinary techniques, until you are free to resume our meditations. This time, I trust, without outside interference."  
  
Tuvok stroked the side of T'Pel's face gently, as she had longed for him to do. Then he jumped up with as much alacrity as T'Pel had ever seen and strode out the door at an accelerated pace, calling for Admiral Paris.  
  
She did not expect to see her husband again for many hours. Her expectation was correct.  
  



	7. Act 4

  
**Act Four:**  
  
**_Mupano Industries, Vidiia_\--_October 23, 2380, Stardate 56810.6_  
**  
"Sir," the flustered secretary, "I'm sorry." Mupano looked at Denara, then Kes, then back at his secretary. The box they were carrying must have piqued his curiosity.  
  
"That's okay." He stood as the secretary closed the door. "I normally prefer the usual niceties--like appointments, but your call intrigued me. I've cleared an hour. This had better be good." He motioned for them to sit down. Denara sat, but Kes remained standing even after Mupano sat.  
  
"It is," Kes said as she slid the box across his desk. "I've contacted the Federation, and they were able to send me the instructions for constructing a long range tachyion transmission communication network. Mupano Industries can create a communication network that is 100 times faster than subspace signals--with a much greater range."  
  
He was already studying the diagrams. "The energy costs would be very high," he muttered after several minutes.  
  
"I have a solution for that. Paragithium."  
  
"Hard to find and costs too much to buy," he answered.  
  
"Not necessarily."  
  
Mupano looked up. "Not necessarily? With a large reliable source of Paragithium you could come close to buying your own planet."  
  
Kes smiled. "That's exactly what I'm requesting. My people do not possess the facilities or equipment to mine more than a little bit of Paragithium at a time. You do."   
  
Denara thought the Paragithium must be on--or inside--Ocampa. It would explain why Kes had been so vague when she spoke about the resources the Ocampa had to offer in trade for a planet, but she figured Kes wouldn't tell her at this point in the negotiations.  
  
"Hmmm." Mupano stood. "I'm definitely interested." He smiled at Denara. "I would say this hour could be well worth our time. If you don't mind, I'd like Lendar to examine this, as well as others of my staff."  
  
Kes glanced at Denara who understood her reluctance to deal with Dr. Klim, but all she could do was provide a quick nod of encouragement. "That would be acceptable," Kes said. "You do realize that there are some details I can't go into until we have a firm commitment from everyone."  
  
"I understand completely," Mupano said. "Well, Kes, if Lendar and Tycos find this as fascinating as I do, not only will we have a deal--but there may be more funds available for Dr. Pel's clinic and research." Denara glanced at him quickly, then at Kes. Mupano must have caught her surprise. "Dr. Pel, consider it a finder's fee. This could be the single most important discovery in centuries. But there's no point in boring you with details that are still subject to change." The door opened, and two Vidiians entered, Mupano introduced his associate, Tycos Indorin, while Lendar immediately started to look through the documents.  
  
  
**_Project Pathfinder, San Francisco_\--_November 21, 2380, Stardate 56889.8_  
**  
"It's like looking for a needle in a damn haystack," Admiral Paris grumbled to himself, as he stared moodily at the vast star chart on the wall. A small section of the Delta Quadrant was highlighted; at the center of the indicated area was a single bright star: Vidiia.  
  
Tuvok did not allow his own expression to change, although deep down, he felt the tingle of excitement mixed with apprehension. He glanced over at the Admiral, who repeated once more, "A damn haystack."  
  
The technician manipulating the vast MIDAS array paid no attention; doubtless, he'd heard it all before. But Lieutenant Barclay, nervously twisting his hands together, said, "Actually, Admiral, that analogy isn't quite appropriate. You see, a needle could theoretically be _anywhere_ within the haystack, but we know--"  
  
"Reg," Commander Harkins said warningly.  
  
"--within a few microparsecs precisely where our needle, that is, the Vidiian communication center, is supposed to be. Compared to the first time we attempted to make contact with _Voyager_, this search will be much simpler." Barclay at last ground to a halt, perhaps finally aware of the penetrating gaze of the admiral.  
  
"You're quite right, Lieutenant," Paris said finally. "It should be easier this time around. But that still doesn't mean I'm feeling sanguine about our chances of success."  
  
Something about the Admiral's tone caught Tuvok's attention. Was Paris concerned that their attempt to contact the Vidiians would not succeed, or that it possibly might?  
  
He was saved from further speculation when the technician called out, "I've got them, sir!"  
  
"On screen," Paris ordered.  
  
"Sorry, Admiral, audio only," the tech replied.  
  
"You'll have no more than a minute, maximum," Harkins said swiftly.  
  
"Understood," Tuvok said. Simultaneously reaching out with his mind, he said, "Kes?"  
  
_"Tuvok!"_ came the immediate reply. _"It's so good to hear your voice!"_  
  
"It appears our attempt at contact was successful," Tuvok said. "However, we do not have much time. The communication window will be open for only another 42.5 seconds."  
  
_"We've experimented with paragithium for circuitry to lengthen the window for information exchange and increased power efficiency,"_ Kes said. "_I suggest that you do the same on your end."  
_  
"Understood." Behind him, Tuvok heard the low hum of voices. Doubtless the Pathfinder scientists grasped the significance of Kes' statement and were discussing its feasibility. "Our next test contact, which we will attempt in twenty days, on Stardate 56963.2, will be of longer duration."  
  
_"I'm looking forward to it,"_ Kes said warmly.  
  
"Five seconds, Commander," Paris warned him.  
  
"Until then, Kes."  
  
_"Goodbye, Tuvok. Give my love to your family and--"_  
  
"Sorry, sir, the communication window closed," the tech said.  
  
"As expected," Tuvok said, stifling a sudden stab of disappointment. He turned to Paris. "Admiral, what is the next step?"  
  
"The first thing to do is implement the paragithium network," Paris said. His facial expression had not brightened; if anything, he looked more morose than he had earlier. He let out a deep sigh. "And then it will be time to take this to Admiral Hayes and the rest of the General Council."  
  
  
**_Sodality Hall, Vidiia_\--_December 18, 2380, Stardate 56963.2_  
**  
President Dop frowned when they entered Sodality Hall, Denara noticed. "Probably didn't expect to see us again," she whispered. Kes just smiled.  
  
Mupano Tar chuckled. "His frown will lessen when he hears what we brought with us. Are you sure the Federation is ready?"  
  
Kes nodded, Denara was impressed that the Ocampa woman didn't look nervous, even as the other delegates turned to study them.  
  
"I'll handle this," Mupano whispered to Denara. "Members of the Sodality, esteemed guests," he said loudly. "About two months ago, a request was brought to the Sodality by a representative of the Ocampa People. With the support of the Federation--an organization located on the other side of the galaxy--Mupano Industries has built a communication device to speak with their representative."  
  
Anything else he might like to say was drowned out by shouts from the delegates. President Dop rang a handbell in a vain attempt to silence the hall.  
  
Finally, his voice was heard over the ruckus. "This delegation will be dismissed and offenders will be fined if there is not silence NOW."  
  
"Mr. President, the Vidiian Government is not in the habit of negotiating with murderers and thieves," a tall female said in a very loud voice just before she sat down.  
  
"We aren't?" someone else shouted. President Dop rang the bell again.  
  
"I suggest that the Ocampa delegate and Councilor-Delegate Loa join me in my office." Dop glanced at Mupano. "Mupano Industries engineers have finished installing this communication device in my office?"  
  
"That is correct," Mupano said.  
  
"Then, I suggest this meeting is adjourned until later." Dop rang the bell.  
  
"Here's to success," Mupano said as he motioned for Denara and Kes to go before him.  
  
"To success," Kes whispered.  
  
Denara gripped Kes' hand more tightly as she realized they were expected to speak to the Federation representatives. No one had mentioned that to them before. She glanced at Dop. From the whispers between Dop and Loa, she thought they were surprised too. She leaned close to Kes and asked, "Are you all right?"  
  
"Just nervous. I think I'm just now understanding this is the easy part."  
  
Denara smiled. Easy? But then again, maybe Kes was right. If the plan succeeded, Kes would return to her people and plan that move. Just how does one move over a million people anyway?  
  
Denara didn't have time to wonder about that. They'd entered the president's office. An impressive console was on the wall showing the gray and green seal of Vidiian Sodality. Dop glanced around the room several times. "I believe the interests of the Vidiian Sodality and the Ocampa people would best be served if Dr. Denara Pel and Kes make the initial contact." Dop then activated the screen. The image flickered, then faded out to a solid green. Suddenly there was a hiss and the entire screen turned into an angry gray and white ocean. Then another image appeared. A uniformed humanoid being, with a solemn expression and a fringe of hair only above his ears was visible.  
  
_"I am Admiral Paris."_  
  
"Dr. Denara Pel, representing the Vidiian Sodality," Denara responded automatically, not sure of what she was going to say next. She'd rather expected to see Captain Janeway or maybe even Dr. Schmullis, not some unknown human. If his name was Paris, though, could he be related in some way to Tom Paris, from _Voyager_?  
  
Her companion saved her from having to speak again. "And I'm Kes, representing the Ocampa people. Thank you for listening to our request."  
  
_"It's not every day I have the honor of being involved in such a historic meeting," _Paris said.  
  
Dop moved to stand behind Denara. "I'll take over," he whispered.  
  
Denara was relieved. "Sir, I'd like to introduce President of the Vidiian Sodality, Chimeral Dop."  
  
She stepped to the back and after listening for several minutes, slipped out the door. To her surprise, Mupano Tar followed.  
  
"What was that about?" she asked.  
  
Mupano chuckled. "I think Dop was afraid that he'd be dealing with that Starfleet Captain Janeway. We both know that she has many reasons to distrust us. I gather she would trust you." Mupano shrugged.  
  
"Personally I'm relieved. I wish I knew if I was needed here."  
  
"I know you must be anxious to return to your clinic." Mupano said. "And I must be returning to my office. Have a pleasant afternoon." Mupano departed quickly. Denara hesitated three seconds, before following him out. She silently wished Kes well, but her clinic waited. She couldn't afford to spend the day here, sitting and staring at gray walls.  
  
****  
  



	8. "Altruistic Motives"--Epilogue

**Epilogue**  
  
**_Ocampa homeworld_\--_April 9, 2381, Stardate 57272.1_**  
  
The central plaza, once a cafeteria where the Ocampa had lined up meekly to receive their food rations from the Caretaker, was the throbbing heart of the caverns. The underground city had always been their refuge from danger, whether those enemies were a hostile natural environment; careless extragalactic explorers; or neighbors with conquest on their minds. Now the plaza was their "capital city" within a city.  
  
Today, as ever, Kes spent virtually every second exchanging greetings, enthusiastic waves, and smiles with her grateful people. Kes the Explorer had returned home and was hailed as a heroine once again as soon as the plans for the salvation of the Ocampa were presented. While some of those who greeted Kes were special friends who rated much more than a wave, sometimes it seemed that everyone knew her. Much to her surprise, she seemed to know all of them, too.  
  
"Hello, Carys! How are you doing today?...Kiran, the Transport Assignment Team meeting was postponed until tomorrow. Can you still come? Excellent!...Everyone agrees that was a great idea, Raquiris. Vertris is presenting it to Council tomorrow morning for their consideration...Why, thank you, Julan! I do feel wonderful. Keeping busy must agree with me!...Yes, it is an exciting time, isn't it, Penan? We're just getting started.... "  
  
"Auntie Kes!"  
  
At the shout, Kes turned full circle and saw her friend Tyeris coming towards her, followed by her brood. Kes happily accepted hugs from the children Andryas, Linnis, and Neelan. "Hi, there! You know, every time I see you, I just can't get over it! You three aren't supposed to be so grown up yet!"  
  
"I can't believe it sometimes myself," Tyeris admitted.  
  
Kes had to reach far up to hug Neelan, who was as tall and gangly as his father Benan. The twins Andryas and Linnis were only a little taller than Kes. She always had to look carefully to see which was which; they were truly identical and sometimes played tricks on their boyfriends by switching places. Kes always felt a little choked up when she saw them. Tyeris had asked her to name the children, a great honor for any Ocampa, but an especially significant one for Kes, who had never had a child of her own. They'd left childhood far behind by the time Kes had returned in triumph two months before, but they had not yet traded the coltishness of adolescence for sober adulthood. "Auntie Kes" hadn't missed their entire journey to adulthood--just the greater part of it.  
  
They chatted amiably for a time--too short a time, as far as Kes was concerned, since she had a late afternoon meeting. As she waved good-bye to Tyeris and her almost-grown brood, who were homeward bound while Kes still had to endure a Logistics Oversight Group meeting, Kes realized she must have looked very much like the triplets not so long ago, as beings of other races measure time. "Not so long ago" is a relative concept, as Kes well knew. "Ten years! A lifetime for an Ocampa--as a corporeal being." She smiled to herself as she stepped into Council Hall, where her meeting was being held.  
  
There were many pieces of the puzzle to put into place before the corporeal Ocampa could emigrate, but Kes couldn't stop herself from looking forward to what would come afterwards, when they were settled in their new homes. _Then I'll teach them what the Morilogium truly is,_ she thought.  
  
*  
  
Her meeting, mercifully, lasted barely an hour and a half. Afterwards, Kes walked briskly towards the crowded little apartment she shared with Josan, Lyrial, and their children Benaren and Alixas, born a month after Kes returned from Vidiia. "You see, I was right about your Elogium, wasn't I, Lyrial?" Kes had teased. "I'm glad you saved my luggage, but I think you need the room for your family! Maybe I should move out..."  
  
They wouldn't hear of Kes living anywhere else but in her little alcove off the main room of the apartment. As long as they were careful to keep the dwelling tidy, there was enough room for them all. Benan had managed to rig the apartment to fit two cribs, two storage compartments, and two toy boxes within it, in addition to everything else it had always contained. "Auntie" Kes had to be careful where she stepped, though, because no matter how vigilant the rest of the family was, somehow Benaren always missed one of his toys during clean-up time, and it would lurk underfoot, waiting to trip the unwary. Lyrial confided to Kes, whenever they talked about the colony, "It will be nice to have a little more room, now that the children are getting so big."  
  
"It will be nice to have a little more room" was being said in most of the apartments in the caverns, now that the prospect was no longer a fantasy. But if the waiting was hard, yet so would be the leaving. For better or worse, this had been home for many generations of Ocampa. Leaving all the familiar places behind would be difficult for everyone.  
  
When she finally reached the final corridor to the apartment, Kes surrendered to impulse. She strode past her door and entered the hydroponics cavern. At this time of the evening, only the skeleton night crew would still be there. Where she was headed, all the workers would have already left for home.  
  
Kes had spent many happy hours in the potting shed with Martis and Benaren, her parents, planting seeds and transplanting seedlings to larger pots to set out in the main farming area outside. Today she went there once again, to the place where she felt closest to those gentle spirits who had gone before her into the non-corporeal world.  
  
"Mother, Father, are you here?"  
  
There was no response. She didn't expect one, although she opened her mind as far as she could to reach out to them. Even so, she never felt discouraged. Her parents may never have learned the mental disciplines needed to reach back to touch her mind, but somehow, she was sure they did hear her. "I'm going to miss our talks once we're gone, Mother and Father. These caverns will be silent until they collapse into each other and are no more, but your spirits will still be here. Please forgive us for leaving you; it's the only way for our people to survive."  
  
Kes sat on one of the benches along the wall. "Today I saw my friend and her children--triplets, can you imagine that, Mother! Imagine having had three of me! It made me think about you, about how you always encouraged me to forge ahead to wherever my curiosity wanted to take me. I was just about the triplets' age when I decided to climb to the surface and see the sun. The very day they were born was the same day I finally made up my mind to look for a new home for the Ocampa people. And now the triplets themselves will be among the pioneers settling a new world beneath another sun, building a new society light years away from the place we have always called home."  
  
Kes stopped speaking for a moment and looked around, feeling a little foolish at the grandiose way she was speaking. "Maybe I should bring my PADD when I come here. Then I could say I'm working on my Personal Log if anyone heard me in here," she said with a little laugh. "I don't think anyone would really care, though. A lot of our people are doing the same thing in their hearts as they get ready for the Great Migration. And they all think I'm crazy anyway!"  
  
Closing her eyes, Kes rocked herself back into a more comfortable position on the bench. "I know you don't know what a PADD and a personal log are. They're things I learned about as I lived my life--the life you predicted for me when I was first born, Mother. You thought I would 'see the sun' someday, and I did. Not just this sun, either, but many of them--planets and stars and nebulae, too. You would have loved seeing all that I did. We've been hidden away underground for so long, we Ocampa have forgotten how they look. That won't be a problem soon. The stars will be a little different over our new home, but the children will be able to see them. I hope they will thank us for giving them a chance for a new and better life.  
  
"We can't get there without help. People from the other side of the galaxy will ferry most of us, but some of our near neighbors will help, too. It's not without risk, of course. There will be many challenges to overcome to become part of the greater community of this part of the galaxy. Coming out of hiding means exposing our people to enemies, you see. Some we already know about and some we don't; but our people have accepted that dangers go along with the rewards of having a chance to develop our society the way we would have if the Caretakers hadn't come here and ruined this world. What is most exciting for me is that once the pros and cons were explained to them, the Ocampa were still eager to go to New Earth.  
  
"New Earth. A couple of very good friends of mine first called it that. It's a good name for people making a new beginning, don't you think? I've never been prouder of anything I've done in my life than I am of this, because by going there, we'll be helping others as well as ourselves.  
  
"Many different races and species, some formerly enemies and now friends or, at least, allies working together, work to find a way for everyone to get what they need without hurting anyone else to get it. That's the way the Federation works. That's an organization at the other side of the galaxy. When I traveled with my friends on _Voyager,_ I learned about it. I think it's a great model of how to get along. It isn't perfect, of course. Nothing is. And it won't be easy to do. It takes a lot of sweat and toil to do something worth doing--but now the Ocampa will be part of that effort. The Federation will be establishing an 'embassy' on New Earth, where we're making our new home. Maybe we here in what they call the 'Delta Quadrant' can learn from them and build something like their Federation someday. But first, the Ocampa must come out of hiding and take our rightful place as one of the many peoples who live in this galaxy.  
  
"We won't start to actually leave for New Earth for a few months yet, and some of the elders don't intend to leave at all. They've already told us, 'Emigration is for the young. We'll face our Morilogiums here, in the place where we were born and raised our families. We will remain here, so our homeworld will still belong to the Ocampa in spirit.' Thanks to them and to you and to all the generations that have moved on to the spiritual realm, our homeworld will still be inhabited by the Ocampa. I hope all of those who have passed to another state of being will understand why we have to go. I'm pretty sure you will.  
  
"I've really got a lot to do now, organizing the move. My days are full. The list of tasks I must finish keeps getting longer and longer, but everywhere I go, people tell me I actually seem to look younger and more relaxed now. I don't feel like someone pushing eleven. I seem to be getting younger all the time.  
  
"Once I actually _did_ keep getting younger and younger. I became displaced in time and lived my life backwards. Truly. That's when I heard you say you thought I would see the sun someday, Mother." Kes stood up, stretched a little of the stiffness out of her back, and began to pace back and forth in front of the bench as she spoke. "I'm sure some people would say I was just having an hallucination or a dream, but it _felt_ too real not to have actually happened. I loved getting those glimpses of you, so long after you'd left me behind. I sometimes wonder if I would have ever had the courage to climb to the surface to see the sun if you'd both still been alive. Some of the things that happened to me afterwards were unpleasant, to say the least; but if all the pain and hard times I endured are the price I had to pay to get our people this chance, then it was worth it. I brought back a great gift--hope. Hope for the future, when for so long we had none.  
  
"It's getting late. I don't want to get the people I live with worried. I really should go. I'll be back again before we leave. Maybe I'll bring my PADD next time to dictate my 'personal log'--or maybe not. I do feel better just having had this chance to speak to you again, whether you can hear me or not. Good night!"  
  
Kes walked to the doorway to the potting shed, and stood there for several minutes, listening. The shed was dark, empty, yet it overflowed with memories of days and people only she could remember. She waited for some sign of...of something--she didn't know what--but she heard nothing with her ears or her mind. She never had here, but that didn't matter. This was the place where she felt her parents' presence most keenly. As she stood there, a sensation of something unseen and unfelt brushed through her soul, and she felt she _had_ been heard.  
  
Kes took one step out the door before turning around and facing back into the potting shed. She smiled enigmatically. "Oh, by the way. If you really don't want to stay here all alone, you can always fly with us to New Earth. I'm sure you can find the way. I'll make sure to leave a star chart here for you, just in case. I know you'll be welcome."

**_(To be continued in "Best Laid Plans")_**  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These events took place during the same time period as "Reconstruction Blues." 
> 
> "Best Laid Plans" begins during the scene you previously saw at the end of "Reconstruction Blues," although this time, you'll see the entire conversation between Kathryn Janeway, Admiral Hayes, and Tuvok. The events of "Sanctuary" and "Altruistic Motives" will have a profound effect on the new starship _Voyager II's_ mission to the Delta Quadrant, as you will see...

**Author's Note:**

> Credits: 
> 
> Prologue:  
Ocampa homeworld--April 8, 2380, Stardate 56368.2--jamelia
> 
> Act 1  
Outside the Ocampa system--April 8, 2380, Stardate 56268.8--jamelia  
ShahKar, Vulcan--May 4, 2380, Stardate 56341.2--jamelia  
Horspant District offices, Vidiia--May 6, 2380, Stardate 56345.4--Christina
> 
> Act 2  
Nekrit Supply Depot--September 9, 2380, Stardate 56690.4--jamelia  
Quizal-Corana Space Station,--September 19, 2380, Stardate 56717.4--jamelia  
Pel Clinic, Vidiia--September 23, 2380, Stardate 56728.1--Christina  
Outside the Qizal-Corana system--September 24, 2380, Stardate 56269.8--jamelia  
Shahkar, Vulcan--September 24, 2380--Stardate 56730.2--jamelia  
Outside the Qizal-Corana system--September 24, 2380, Stardate 56730.6--jamelia
> 
> Act 3  
Pel Clinic, Vidiia--October 15, 2380, Stardate 56788.3--Christina  
Mupano Industries, Vidiia--October 16, 2380, Stardate 56790.9--Christina  
Meyel District, Vidalia, Vidiia--October 18, 2380, Stardate 56796.4--Christina  
Mupano Industries, Vidiia--October 2o, 2380, Stardate 56801.3--Christina & jamelia  
Pel Clinic, Vidiia--October 20, 2380, Stardate 56801.9--Christina  
Vidiian Sodality Offices, Vidiia--October 22, 2380, Stardate 56807.3--Rocky  
Southern District, Vidalia, Vidiia--October 22, 2380, Stardate 56808.1--Christina  
San Francisco, Earth--October 23, 2380, Stardate 56810.2--jamelia
> 
> Act 4  
Mupano Industries, Vidiia--October 23, 2380, Stardate 56810.6--Christina  
Project Pathfinder, San Francisco--November 21, 2380, Stardate 56889.8--Rocky  
Sodality Hall, Vidiia--December 18, 2380, Stardate 56963.2--Christina
> 
> Epilogue  
Ocampa homeworld--April 9, 2381, Stardate 57272.1--jamelia
> 
> **Next Up: "Best Laid Plans" by the Voyager Virtual Season 7.5 Staff. **The events of "Sanctuary" and "Altruistic Motives" alter the parameters of an upcoming mission.


End file.
